The Island of Narid
by FreakyWannabes
Summary: Though the idea may seem old, I assure you this is not at all what it seems. Ed, Al, Winry, Rose, and a few personnel from the military get stranded on a strange, tropical island, where a great secret is uncovered and a destiny is revealed.
1. The Mysterious Crash

**The Island of Narid**

**Chapter one: The Mysterious Crash**

(ooo how suspenseful, neh?)

Hmmm….well while this story may seem very unoriginal in the beginning, I assure you all that once this story gets going it will get much more involved. It just seems shallow on the surface. ;

Oh, and I do NOT own FMA. If I did, there would be a lot more Rose in it. Also, Bloch would be in it more too. Yay Bloch! ahem... continuing...

Well anywho let the show begin!

"Woohoo!"

"The Colonel was real nice to invite us on his private jet. I wonder where he got all the money from…?" Alphonse held two invitations in his hand.

Edward swiped a ticket away from his younger brother, who was ironically much taller than he. "Who cares, Al? We just scored a free vacation!"

Riza Hawkeye smiled slightly. She had persuaded Roy to bring along the brothers. "Remember to take along some guests with you, boys."

"Thanks!" Alphonse said happily. Hawkeye nodded to them both and left the room.

Fuery sunk in his chair after she left, speaking for both Falman and he, "I wish I could come but I'm too busy. Besides I get airsick easily," he whined. He turned when Breda cried out.

"No way am I spending my week on a plane with Hawkeye's mutt!" He was behind his chair, cowering from the thought.

"I don't understand you; dogs are friendly, warm-hearted…."

Edward turned from their conversation, "So who should we invite?" He asked Alphonse.

"I'm sure Winry would like to go."

Ed nodded, "And Rose hasn't been far from Lior."

"Who else do you think Roy invited?"

"I don't know but if he invited _us_ the whole military must be going." Ed said with a smug grin.

The private jet was large and rather…unfilled. Rose and Alphonse sat together, then behind him sad Edward and Winry. Roy and Hawkeye sat beside each other near the front with Denny Bloch and Maria Ross. In the very first seat sat the bulky Alex Louis Armstrong, who took up nearly all the room. Besides them, no other besides Black Hayate could come along.

Ed was staring out the window, as far from the person who sat next to him. He _did_ like Winry, I mean, she had been his friend since he was little, but lately she had gotten rather "clingy". Edward could shrug her away on most occasions; however, she seemed to push all others away that were near him. For the current moment, he was in peace. Winry had fallen asleep; on his shoulder most predictably.

Drifts of conversation from the seat in front of him reached his ears. Alphonse was in that seat, with Rose beside him. Ed contemplated over listening in. He knew it was rude but he couldn't help being interested. And besides that, he had nothing better to do (plane peanuts were already consumed). Ed decided to eavesdrop. When he heard what Alphonse was saying, his eyes grew wide and he felt blood rise up in his cheeks.

"Aw…." Alphonse was crooning softly, "You are so cute! I love your clear blue eyes, they're so precious!" Then he heard Rose giggle.

"That's adorable, Alphonse."

Ed's mouth dropped open in shock. What the _HECK!_ Since when did Alphonse talk like that! And to…_Rose!_ Horrified, and even a tad angry, although he wouldn't admit it, Ed snuck his head around Al's seat, eyeing the pair with narrowed eyes. Al was looking forward and Rose had her gaze across the aisle and out the opposite window. For that moment, Ed was relieved. Then he heard Alphonse murmur:

"I'm missing those blue eyes already…." Rose and Al turned toward each other, laughing. Al suddenly stopped in mid-breath, "Brother?"

Ed realized how stupid he must look; head between their seats. He laughed nervously.

"Why are you blushing?" When Al said that, Rose chuckled. Ed shot back to his own seat, stiffly turning away. Winry's blond head fell upon his shoulder again, still asleep.

Al giggled, "What a cute couple!" Rose laughed also, this time much softer however.

Ed whipped his head back to the window, ignoring whatever they said next.

Rose and Alphonse turned back to the front. Al leaned over to Rose and whispered in her ear, so Ed wouldn't hear. "You don't think Ed heard us talking about Kitty, do you?" He opened his armor revealing a tiny kitten. Her fur was a creamy white with brown blotches scattered on her smooth coat. Clear, light blue eyes gazed adoringly up at them both.

"I don't think so," Rose whispered back, "but be careful. Don't worry, I won't tell him you picked up another stray."

"Thanks. She just looked so hungry—I _had_ to take her in." He closed his armor, hiding the tiny kitten.

"Oh Ed! What do you think the island will be like?" Winry asked, excited. She had woken, and done nothing but make sure Ed's attention was on her. Especially since she realized he was flustered about something and kept glancing to Rose and Al's seats.

"I don't know, Winry." He said distracted, yet with attempted cheerfulness. There was no need to hurt her feelings by telling her to bug off. He didn't want her mad at him. "Wait! I see it." He pointed to a lone landform among sparkly ocean water. They both looked at it—it had large beaches and many tropical trees: the perfect dreamy location Winry had always fantasized of.

The plane lowered gently when the pilot alerted them to get ready for landing. However right before the plane touched the white sandy beach of the island, everyone aboard felt the plane lurch and tremble beneath them. The last few feet it tumbled down to earth.

A nervous laugh escaped the pilot after the rough landing. "Well at least that didn't happen when we were higher up, eh?" None seemed too amused by the comment.

"Just find out what the problem is and fix it," Roy ordered, standing up. "I don't care for having our return flight delayed."

"Yes, sir." The pilot said. The guests exited the jet, and stood upon the smooth sands.

"This is so pretty." Winry breathed in awe.

Beyond the beach tall tropical trees grew with exotic wildflowers growing beneath them. Their refreshing and delightful scent was carried by the cool breeze that gently tugged at their hair.

"Um, excuse me?" The pilot broke in, rather timidly. They all turned toward him. He was twiddling his thumbs and wouldn't meet their eyes. "I'm afraid…that the return flight will be indeed delayed."

"How long?" Roy asked, agitated.

The pilot looked down, "Well…until another plane or boat stops by…."

"WHAT!"

"It seems that many electrical circuits were cut and something broke into the gas tank. Our gas is gone, and a gaping hole lies in the tank and in other parts of the plane. It's…so strange."

It took a few moments to register the information. Then Roy flamed, "WHAT THE HECK DID ALL THIS!"

The pilot cowered, "I have no idea. I'm sorry."

Some calm returned to Roy. "Well then I'll leave it up to you to find out what did and to get us another ride back to Central."

"Yes, sir."

"In the meantime, we'll have to live on this island for a while."

Winry looked at all their annoyed faces. "Well, it could be fun…." She said optimistically. The others sank to the ground hopelessly.


	2. The Wall of Things We Should Never Touch

**The Island of Narid**

Chapter Two: The Wall of Things We Should Never Touch

Oh, and thank you **FlameFire **for the review! So far, you're the only one who's reviewed. sob ok done now, but yeah, RosexEd pairings rock.

OH! And I realized that Rose had purple eyes…man am I stupid… heh heh well sorry everybody pretend I said purple eyes in the first chapter… --;

Yeah yeah, I don't own FMA……ssiiiiiiiggghhhh

* * *

"Well, brother, we've mastered the life on an island, right? And we can use alchemy this time. It shouldn't be a problem." Al said nervously. He knew no one was in a good mood. 

"Yeah, but last time we knew we'd be picked up in a month!"

"I don't know why everybody is making such a fuss." Armstrong said loudly, averting all eyes to him. "This is a chance to breathe in the fresh air and become one with ourselves--" then he ripped his shirt off dramatically, "our MANLY selves!"

Everyone sighed with annoyance, hoping the guy brought enough shirts to last a while.

"Well moping around here won't help us." Riza said sternly. "I suggest we build a shelter and for food--"

"I'll find us some food!" Bloch suggested cheerfully. When the others looked doubtful he said, "I remember everything I was taught in Cub Scouts, and trust me, I was the _only_ one to receive all my badges!" He ran off into the woods happily.

Maria Ross sighed. "I suppose I should go and fetch him…." Drearily she followed Bloch in the direction he took off.

Roy put a hand to his head. "A minute of being stranded and already they've lost their minds…." He stepped inside the plane and came back moments later with a large red cooler. "I _did_ say that we were vacationing for a while, did I not?" He opened it, revealing drinks and various foods surrounded by ice.

"And we could just use the plane for shelter, right?"

"Well I suppose," the pilot shouted from his seat inside the jet, "but it won't fit all of you. There are too many holes in the ceiling, you'll get rained on."

Edward clapped his hands together and placed them on the sand. Blue alchemy glowed from his palms and on the ground beneath. The sand writhed in the cyan light, rising up toward the sky. Slowly it began to take form; a shed made of steel. It was open on one end to let the cool island breeze in. It was more than large enough for everyone to fit. When finished he leaned against the shack proudly.

"It's kind of bland…." Winry commented, hoping for a more romantic-style summer house. Then she shrugged; she and Rose could always create homely decorations out of the tropical plants around the island. She suggested the idea to Rose, who agreed. Ed snorted, rolling his eyes, but no less let them go.

"I'll come with you!" Alphonse said quickly. Edward whipped around.

"NO!"

Everybody stopped moving at this outburst.

"Um…what, brother?"

"I mean--" Ed quickly recovered, "they'll be fine. They know how to survive."

Al agreed but he was a bit wary. Ed was acting a tad strange. Then a horrible thought hit him. _Did Ed find out about Kitty! What would he do?_ No, he would not give up Kitty. But if Ed knew, when the food resources ran low—NO! He needed to hide Kitty! The only one that could help him would be Rose, for she already knew. Terrified of the loss of Kitty, Alphonse suddenly lunged forward, following the two girls. "Rose! Wait!"

Edward flinched. _WHAT!_ In a fury he attempted to follow when Mustang took hold of his arm.

"It would be wiser if you stayed here, Fullmetal."

Ed snorted, shying away from him. His course was then road blocked again. One hulky hand rested on his shoulder. Ed looked up to see Armstrong, who had already changed into a new shirt (thank goodness).

"Do not worry. Your brother will be fine."

Armstrong was also dodged. Ed ran into the forest, disappearing from sight.

A couple moments passed before Roy sighed. "Well I suppose _somebody_ should go fetch them…." He rose stiffly.

"Do not worry, sir. I will bring them all back safely." Armstrong assured.

Roy nodded, then sat back down atop the red cooler, smiling. When the man left, he felt the blunt end of Hawkeye's gun strike his head. He shrugged; Armstrong was more capable of towing the boys back anyway.

* * *

"Hey, Rose! Look at these!" Winry called the other over with a wave of her hand. When Rose came, they both looked at delicate blossoms with peach and violet petals, encircling a dark plumb-hued center. Their blossoms were everywhere. They plucked some and continued on. 

"Hey, hear that?" Winry said, cupping a hand to her ear. "We must be near another coastline." Following the sound, she and Rose came upon a rocky cliff. Curious, Winry looked for a way to climb down the rocky edge. The ocean wasn't too wild, and there were numerous rock pools. They would be stuck on the island for a while, why not explore? Then a path came to her eye: a less-steep edge with overhanging roots and branches. Climbing down the rocks, they plucked envy-vine that grew from the craggy mountainside, more as a souvenir than for a decoration.

The two girls took off their shoes and cooled their feet in the gentle tide that washed over the rocks. Wandering around the area, they took seablossoms, white and yellow, from their stems. They sat on the rocks, letting the water splash at their ankles and letting the salty sea-breeze gently tousle their hair.

Rose broke the silence. "I haven't noticed any animals here yet, have you?"

Winry leaned back, recounting their walk, "I guess so, but we haven't been very far inland. Our jet crash could have startled them all."

"Oh, yeah, I suppose--" Her sentence was cut short by a rude vibration. For a short moment, the ground beneath them heaved and shook. No sooner than it started, all was still again.

Alarmed, Winry exclaimed, "What was that!"

Rose looked around her, wondering why the earth shook all of a sudden, and was afraid of a more violent shudder. A small but intense-blue light caught her eye. It was underwater, in a small nick in the ground that was undoubtedly deep; she couldn't see the bottom, and only the tiny crack of cerulean glow was seen.

* * *

"All right. Now, which berries were the edible kinds?" Bloch said to himself, one hand on his chin in contemplation. He searched his brain, but alas, an answer was not found. Deciding that some food was better than none, he plucked a group of red plump berries from their thorny brier and popped them into his mouth. They were a bit tart, but their distinct taste was addicting. Smiling at his find, Bloch took many, stuffing them in his pockets; ever now and again eating one. When satisfied the man rushed back to where his trail was and joyously started toward the coastline. 

Hearing a sudden distant whistling, Maria Ross spun around. A little ways away, Bloch was returning to camp, skipping merrily through the brush of the forest. Shrugging, she followed him.

* * *

"Winry I think you should look at this," Rose said. Winry climbed over to where Rose sat and peered down. The light looked at her like an eye; never blinking. 

"Well that's strange. It could be a fish or something." She took up a pebble and dropped it into the small cranny. It sunk down. Then the pebble hit the light and rolled off it, continuing its descent. "Not something live."

"Rose! Winry!" The girls looked up to see Alphonse. "Come up here for a moment!"

The two nodded, and taking their exotic flowers in hand, they climbed up to Al.

"Hey, Al," Winry began, "did you feel a strange shake in the earth a little while ago?"

"No...but I have a problem…." The boy opened his armor. Winry gasped at the violet-eyed kitty inside. Curious, the kitten leapt out, only to be caught by Al's hands. "I'm afraid Ed found out about Kitty." He looked down at the tiny creature lovingly and worried.

"She's so cute!" Winry giggled, scratching the cat behind her ears. The kitten purred, closing her eyes at the touch.

"Well there's no way that Ed would leave her on the island alone; he wouldn't possible send it away now." Rose said.

"Yeah, but…you don't think that once food supplies get low that the others will--"

"Relax, Al." Winry laughed, "Let's just head back. Your kitten isn't in any danger. Ed's not that cold-hearted and neither are the others."

"Yeah, I guess so."

* * *

Armstrong burst out of the foliage with Ed on his shoulder, who was looking beyond annoyed. The muscled man set him down on the sand. Ed looked away from them all, miffed. 

"I found Alphonse first. He said he would find the girls then return back. He will be coming soon."

As if on cue, Al, Rose, and Winry stepped out of the forest and onto the sandy beach.

"There are many meadows and clearings, it's quite beautiful here. I wouldn't mind staying for a while." Winry said cheerfully, showing them all her and Rose's findings.

"Oh no…."

Everyone turned, hearing Bloch's voice. He was on the ground, doubled over, and he was scratching his arms and legs frantically.

Maria came out from behind him. "The fool got himself into a field of poison ivy, not to mention also drugging himself with berries." She was holding a branch of the red fruit and sighing.

Roy couldn't help but snicker. "We even have enough food to last a couple of weeks—longer if we ration it."

Maria dragged the half-lucid Bloch over to the shelter.

* * *

It was night on the island. Everyone save Roy, Ed, and Winry had fallen asleep inside the shack. The ones left were sitting around a fire, provided so generously by Roy. 

Beside them stood a large wall with two items pinned on it and words along the top. It read, "The Wall of Things We Should Never Touch," and below it were the cluster of berries and a leaf of poison ivy, both contributed by Bloch.

Winry sighed, gazing up at the stars. She, drowsy with sleep, mumbled, "They are so cute together." Then she turned to Ed, whose eyes were wide open. He desperately hoped she was not talking about what he suspected. She continued, "You should have seen the way Alphonse was looking at her. Even if he can't show much expression with his face, I could _feel_ it." She suddenly climbed up to her feet. "Well goodnight," she yawned before entering the shelter.

Ed turned away from the fire and was glad for the darkness, for it concealed a furious blush. Winry had been talking about Al and Rose. He didn't answer Winry back; only glared the other way. When he turned back to the fire, he saw that Roy was smiling, softly snickering. He reached over and patted Ed two times roughly on the shoulder before laughing and walking away to the shed.

Edward lingered by the fire awhile with a sour expression. He'd have to put _Alphonse_ on The Wall soon.

* * *

Well yeesh that was a long chapter…. 

Goodnight unto you all.


	3. Fish, Loincloths, and One Scary Sight

**The Island of Narid**

Chapter Three: Fish, Loincloths, and One Scary Sight

A note to all: I do NOT own FMA. It would be cool…though………

…

anywho, um nishte (the word for everything) I can already tell this is going to be a super long chapter… just to warn you all. Um… well just to let you guys know, I have a very odd sense of humor. If you've read my Spirited Away story you know what I mean. Do not be alarmed if the things in here aren't funny to you; they're probably not funny to a lot of people. ;P

Also, a very humorous thing can lead into a dreadful thing and so forth. It will be weird. Like it's happy in one second and then suddenly gasp it's dreadful and such.

Let's stop with the warnings and get on with it. One last thing sigh ok, well pretend that they CAN'T make food with alchemy. Ok? Ok.

* * *

"I can starve first, if it'd help…." 

"You can't starve, Al!"

"It's the thought that counts."

"Thanks, I'll chew on that."

* * *

It had been three days since Roy's food supply suddenly vanished. It was a hot morning and he went to get himself a beverage when he found the pilot and all their food missing. They had barely been able to sustain themselves on what little edible plants the island had to offer. The Wall had already five different types of mushrooms and two types of berries—all tested on poor Bloch, whom Maria watched over. Still there were no animals to be found; they had all moved too far inland and none were brave enough to venture so far from camp. 

For the last few hours, Bloch had regained consciousness enough to babble and mumble ludicrously and longingly of all sorts of food. And Black Hayate was whimpering and barking constantly at something he couldn't seem to locate, much to the annoyance of everyone. They all were lying on the sand of the beach, staring up at the sky in boredom and hopelessness. It was midday and everyone was miserable. They all just lay there, unmoving. They had been that way for hours now, despite Alphonse's motivations and attempted conversation starters.

"Ed, why don't you get some food? You know some plants that are good, maybe there's more."

Ed scowled. "Oh, you just can't wait for me to leave, can you?"

"Calm down, brother. I'm only going to go fishing. If we all just work together everything will be fine."

Ed snorted, but reluctantly climbed up to his feet. He swayed for a moment before stumbling away grumpily. He was too hungry and tired to argue. He heard faintly another get up. Turning, he found Winry was getting up as well.

"I'll help."

Al went over to Rose, who was attempting to rise as well, unwilling to lie around while everyone else was working. "Hey, Rose…?" Al asked softly.

"Hmm?" She ventured, stretching.

"Will you hold onto Kitty for me?" He whispered. Rose nodded. "Here, Rose," he led her away from Roy, Riza and the others. He opened his armor as quietly as he could manage and let Rose take the small cream kitten into her arms. Kitty purred, batting the stray locks of brown hair that fell over Rose's shoulders. She giggled and scratched the kitten's light belly until Kitty wrapped her spotted paws around Rose's hand and began kicking and biting it. Again, Rose laughed, encouraging the kitten's play.

"Thanks, Rose."

"No problem. She really is one to lift the spirit." She paused. "Is there any way that I can help? Now that I can't follow Ed and Winry."

"Well…" Al broke a stick and drew a transmutation circle on the bark of a tree. A thin rope strand came into his hands after he put his palms on the trunk. "If you find something to fish with, like a worm or something, you could fish also."

Kitty jumped from her arms suddenly, playing with a butterfly. She skipped and pounced, finally catching the dusty wings under her paws. Rose laughed, "Thanks, Kit." She reached down and grabbed the butterfly, making sure it did not slip away from her hold. She broke off a curved thorn from one of the bushes next to her and tied it to the end of the rope.

Alphonse stepped into the water and sat on the smooth, sandy bottom. He would wait for maybe a half an hour before exiting and checking his luck. Rose sat on a large rock, dangling her feet over the edge. The others could not see her for the curve in the island, and so Kit was allowed to scamper around, playing with little insects, all given to Rose when caught. Eventually, the kitten curled up in Rose's dress and fell asleep, purring.

* * *

Ed and Winry were walking inland, oblivious to how far. Winry would always stop to pick flowers or to gaze at the scenery. Ed, however, seemed anxious to return and wouldn't stop rushing her when she began to dawdle. 

"What's got you so uptight?" Winry asked in her cheerful voice when he grabbed her arm and hauled her forward so she couldn't stand gazing at a small, tender pink blossom. "Doesn't the scenery relax you even a little? It's a chance for us to forget our troubles for a while, don't you think?"

"Ha—depends on your troubles."

Winry paused, and then turned towards him, suspicious. "What do you mean?"

Ed halted also, noticing his slipped words. He just put a hand behind his head and laughed nervously, looking for a cover up. "Ah, nothing. I'm just speaking without thought, that's all."

Winry put her hands on her hips and bent down to look at him, piercing his gold eyes with her own clear blue ones. He faltered beneath her gaze, turning away as a light rose tint lit up in his cheeks.

"I have known you for long enough—I _know_ when something's bothering you, whether you're willing to let it show or not."

Ed said nothing. Defeated and saddened, Winry sighed.

"I'll always be here if you want to talk, you know." She said. Ed mumbled something. Winry brightened and said more cheerfully, "Well, we better hurry and get back for whatever reason you have."

"…" He followed her.

* * *

"Anything yet?" Al called to Rose. The girl started from her doze and guiltily realized she had been paying no attention at all to Al, Kit, or fishing. 

"What was that?"

"Did you have any luck?"

"Oh, no. Nothing yet." She pulled her line back in and re-cast the string into the ocean. Kit stirred but didn't wake, only stretched her legs out and shifted in the warm sun. Her ear twitched. Rose gazed sweetly down at the kitten, smiling. It was amazing how such a small a thing could do so much for her mood. She stroked her cream spotted fur.

Then, nearly making her jump, Rose felt a pull on her line when she attempted to pull it back in. She straightened. Kit flinched, waking and sitting straight up in alertness. Rose excitedly pulled in the line.

She heard Alphonse call, "I felt a bump! There are fish near!"

"Alphonse, I have one!" Rose yelled, ecstatic. Kit leapt off her lap when Rose stood. Kit crept behind some rocks, playing with a dark beetle. The others hopped up when they heard her shout and rushed over, cheering her on. Armstrong had attempted to bring in the line with his manly muscles but Rose shied away, determined to get credit, and eagerly kept up her pulling. With a great jerk, she wrenched her arms up and her catch went flying through the air. Everyone watched her catch sailing above their heads and each of them felt their expressions slowly change from eager ecstasy to a dusky horror.

For sailing above them was not a scaled treasure, but a thick, lavender cloth, dripping wet. Their eyes grew wide and everybody but Rose slid away on the rocks.

"My loincloth!" Al cried in dismay.

Rose shrieked childishly and swung her pole back and forth, grazing the water surface. Al was frantically grabbing for his cloth when she swung it at him, but unable to for everyone was now groping for Roses pole in a frenzy, attempting to throw it back to Alphonse. No one dared to touch it, out of courtesy. The poor boy was shouting in embarrassment. It didn't matter if he was metal or not, it was politeness and taking Al as a normal person that made them all flustered.

Rose swung the stick back, and then paused when she felt it stop abruptly. She felt her mood sink when she heard a curse in a familiar voice. Whirling around, Rose saw Al's purple loincloth plastered over Ed's face. Winry yelped in surprise and leapt away. Ed tore the thing from him, finally realizing what it was.

"I'm so, so sorry!" Rose said over Alphonse's screaming.

Armstrong roughly grabbed the pole from Rose's hands and threw it out to Alphonse, stick and all. Rose stood with her head down, mortified.

Kit, spooked by the yelling and movement, and after nearly getting crushed underneath feet, was in a panic. She leapt onto Winry who was on the ground and dug her claws into the soft flesh of her face, scrambling on her shoulder and head. Hawkeye's dog immediately ran to Winry, jumping on top of her and clawed in a frenzy to get to Kit.

Alarmed, Ed wrapped his hands around the kitten and tore her off Winry, unpurpously cutting Winry's face in the process. Winry sprung to her feet, covering her eyes and forehead, now badly bleeding. Hawkeye caught struggling Black Hayate and firmly held his mouth shut.

"I am so sorry!" Rose cried, nearly in tears.

Kitty, still in a fit, began clawing at Ed's shirt savagely, tearing his shoulder. Rose scrambled forward and plucked Kit from Ed, who was still cursing. Rose held Kit's head into her chest and pressed the kitten close to her, so tight the cat couldn't move.

"Is that yours!" He had a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm really, _really_ sorry!" Rose went toward Winry, but the girl shied away. Rose was crying now.

Roy lost his normal reserveness and broke out, shouting, "You've scared all the fish away! Not to mention Ed and Winry will get an infection! And you're _also_ the one who made Black Hayate fuss all morning!"

"_I'm sorry!"_ Rose cried, even though Al had Kit in the morning. She should have taken it on herself to take Kitty away and let things go on peacefully.

Rose whirled around, fleeing into the woods. She didn't care where she went, just as long as it was away from everybody else.

"Rose, wait!" Ed shouted, trying to be louder than the loud chaos of everyone else. Rose did not turn, did not even show the slightest hint that she heard. Ed cursed, following her, shaking off Maria's hands that attempted to hold him back.

Maria started forward until she realized she had neglected her post. Glancing over to the shack, she realized in dismay that Bloch no longer was over there. "Where's Bloch?"

Riza looked up in alarm. She had one arm about Winry in comfort and the other holding Black Hayate, who was slowly calming. Winry was still bleeding, but it was not as harsh as everyone thought.

"Bloch isn't here?"

Maria ran to the shack, checking everywhere. With her eyebrows drawn up in stress she shook her head. "He's gone!"

Riza sighed. "I'll stay here with Winry if you plan on following him."

Maria, Roy, and Armstrong ran into the woods.

"Are you all right, Winry?" Riza asked, concerned. The girl shuddered, trying to dry up her eyes. She was mad at herself for crying.

"Rose shouldn't have brought a cat over." Riza said, almost in a scolding tone. She ripped part of her sleeve off that was already tattering and dabbed Winry's bleeding eye.

Winry suddenly grabbed Hawkeye's hand firmly. "Rose didn't bring the kitten on. Al did. Rose was probably just watching her. Don't punish her, she didn't do anything!"

"She was Rose's responsibility at the time."

"But none of you had to yell at her like that!" She tried to get up and follow Rose when Hawkeye firmly grasped her hand and made her sit again.

"What's done is done. I'm sure everything will turn out fine."

* * *

"Rose, just stop for a minute!" 

Rose pushed her legs faster. She didn't want to talk to anyone. The tall trees grew considerably denser, but she kept on, determined not to return until everyone's mood had calmed. She knew they were testy from lack of food and from the heat, but she had not expected to make matters worse.

Ed's voice drifted away; undoubtedly her trail had gotten to hard to follow. Slowing, Rose walked now, huffing and holding Kit close to her chest, despite how spooked the poor cat was. The island forest was much darker here, and the grand trees' leafy coverage was thick, letting only tiny rays of sunlight through. Walking through the dappled wood, she kept her eyes open. Maybe there would be an animal or two present. She could redeem herself. After a while, she still saw nothing. Kit had mellowed and lay in Rose's arms, dozing.

Rose sat wearily on a moss-covered rock. Kit collapsed and curled up. Half-mindedly stroking the spotted feline, she gazed at the 'scape about her. It was very different from the shallow forest near the coastline. Here the trees grew bigger, and few flowers covered the ground. Those that did were little and sparse, present only in the little spots of sunlight.

A light crunch of a bush sounded suddenly. Rose whipped her head toward the sound, hoping to see a small deer or fox. Instead, she saw nothing. Then another small noise could be heard, almost like a light whisper. A breeze passed by her head and a fleeting shadow by her eye.

Rose got to her feet, looking under large bushes and past the thick trees for the small fox. Then Kit leapt from her arms and zoomed away. Bewildered, Rose turned and felt herself grabbed harshly by the shoulders and flung back into the trunk of a tree.

* * *

"Hey, I hear water!" Maria said, pointing in the direction that the small sound could be heard. Roy and Armstrong nodded, hoping Bloch still had a little sanity left to know he needed water. They could use the freshwater themselves—their throats were parched. It didn't rain often, and when it did, it did not last long. 

"Colonel, look!" Armstrong exclaimed, gesturing to the sky. Roy and Maria looked up and saw dark smoke rise from the treetops, covered with a glaze of crimson.

Roy cursed under his breath and ran forward. He hoped Bloch wouldn't get himself caught in the fire. In the state he was in, he would probably walk straight into the blaze and not even realize it. Maria was ahead of them all, calling Bloch's name desperately into the thick air. It was getting harder to breathe. Fire could be seen devouring plants and grass, but the flames were dying, as if the fire had been started a while ago.

They walked around the fire's smoldering edges, looking for anything. They then saw the source of water now: a great waterfall cutting through the black smoke and rushing into a now contaminated water pool.

"Our water…."

The trees around it were bent over, dusty with ashes, but showed that it had once been filled with cocoanuts. It must have been a paradise here before it was destroyed. It was just their luck, of course…..

Maria ran forward suddenly to the edge of the pool. "I see something!" Pulling their shirts over their noses and mouths, Roy and Armstrong followed her to the brink. She was kneeling beside scrapes of clothing.

"Bloch's clothes!" Roy asked with a sinking feeling. Then he saw a familiar white glove with a pattern on it set in triangles and circles. "…and my glove. Perfect." Bloch must have somehow gotten one and had a field day.

"It's okay…" Maria said uncertainly, "Bloch's alive…just…naked…."

* * *

"Hey girly." A young man said, pinning a terrified pink-banged brown-haired girl with violet eyes to the rough bark of a tree. He had short blonde hair that curled round his ears. He had piercing, dark eyes. 

Rose was too frightened to reply. She quivered underneath her grip. He was almost the only thing keeping her up on her feet; her knees felt near betraying her. His grip tightened and he smiled devilishly.

"What should we do with this little lady?" The man said.

So he wasn't alone. Rose dared not turn to look. She barely was able to breathe.

"Just kill her." A female voice said. The curly-haired boy's grin grew wider and a spark lit in his eye. Rose crumbled, but he tightened his grip and forced her up.

"Wait." Another female voice broke in, much lower and more thick that the first. "I recognize this pretty whelp."

_'Recognize me?'_ Rose's fear reached a new peak. Her eyes clouded over.

"From where?" The boy said, not taking his dark eyes from Rose.

"Leave her hear. We may need her later."

"As a hostage?" Another asked; sounding no more than a boy of twelve. But his tone gave away to hostility and not innocence of youth.

"Then we'll take her now." The man in front of her impatiently said.

"No. Not yet." The lady urged. The curly-haired man scowled and turned his head toward the woman beyond Rose's vision.

Rose felt herself go rigid. Something was slowly encircling her neck. It was thin and hard, yet moved with as much lithe and grace as a serpent.

"What are you getting at?" The man said angrily.

"We need to wait. I have my reasons and I'll tell you later when the girl's not listening."

Rose tensed and her breath was struggled. Her chest burned with fear as she felt another snake-like rope double the tie beneath her chin. Then she gasped. Pain racked her and she coughed; the serpents and the boy held her tighter, constricting her. Her throat and chest convulsed, attempting to cough and breathe. A needle was carving into the side of her neck, ripping open flesh. The point drove into a circle, ever so slowly. Rose felt warm blood bead down her neck and stain her dress. When the needle finally released, so did the snakes' grip. Rose coughed and gagged, straining for air.

"Come on!" Someone ordered.

The man in front of her winked and clicked his tongue before letting her go. She fell to the ground, holding her neck in pain. Panic-stricken she tore the hem of the bottom of her cream dress and bound it around her neck, still slick and warm with blood.

She lay against the tree there for more than a half an hour, crying, before she felt small furry paws step on her legs. Rose looked down and saw Kit's spotted face. She mewed softly before Rose clutched her close.

A sudden cheerful singing startled them both, but Rose did not let go of Kit, no matter how strongly she struggled. Then they saw someone approaching fast and drunkenly.

"Hello…?" Rose called uncertainly. She stood. "Are you okay?"

The singing didn't cease. He hadn't even heard her. When he ran near her, Rose screamed and closed her eyes.

"Bloch! What are you doing! Get some clothes on! What happened to Maria?" She blurted out, her eyes still tightly shut.

Bloch said nothing and kept up his song loudly. Then his singing faded away as the sick and unwell man continued his frolic.

* * *

"I found him!" The grand voice of Armstrong bellowed loudly. He came forth with Bloch, who was wrapped in Armstrong's military shirt (so Armstrong was able to show off his bulky muscles as he came). 

"That's a relief." Maria said with a sigh. "I was beginning to worry. "She was hit with another thought—another worry. "Do you think Ed and Rose have come back?"

"They wouldn't be gone long. I wouldn't fret." Roy reassured.

* * *

"Rose!" 

The violet-eyed girl awoke from a doze at Edward's voice. He was running towards her, worried. Rose stood up, but found it hard to breathe or swallow. Her cut ached. She saw the scratch on his shoulder nothing more than that, it was very slight.

"Rose! What happened?" Ed exclaimed, seeing the blood stained dark on her dress and bandage. He walked the last paces to her. "You didn't try anything—rash—did you?" He stuttered.

Rose shook her head intensely. She opened her mouth to speak, but found no sound came. She tried again, in vain.

"Rose?"

Upset and near-panicked again, Rose tried over and over to utter even a word; all that came out was a painful and racking cough.

"R-Rose…" He seemed at a loss for words. She kept coughing and gasping for air. Kitty fell from her grasp. Ed lunged forward and steadied Rose from collapsing. "Rose, stop! You're hurting yourself!"

When she gained control of her breath again she shook off Ed's hands.

Edward tore some of his coat that was already tattering. The bandage from Rose's dress was bled through. Gently, he reached up to her bandage but she stumbled away. Ed looked at her, confused, and a little hurt that she wouldn't trust him.

"What happened? Was it that cat, or a thorn bush—" She shook her head vehemently. Ed broke off when he saw a glisten of tears in her eyes.

Rose clasped her hands on her head, remembering the dark-eyed man and his company. He was going to kill her. _'We may need her later.'_ What for? She had never even seen them before! She didn't want anyone to see what they had carved on her neck, afraid of what it was.

Dimly she realized that Ed was saying her name. She looked at him then realized she was crying again. Frustrated, she rubbed her cheek with her hand harshly. She wanted to tell him everything, but her voice had been robbed. She wanted to tell him that it wasn't safe for anyone to be around her, for the dark-eyed man would be back to take her…. She was shaking. Edward reached out to her awkwardly and shyly. She wrapped her arms around him, crying without a sound. He was startled at first, but then returned her embrace.

"What happened?" He asked. Rose was utterly terrified and was holding to him like a lost child awakened from a nightmare.

Rose still shook. Why did those people want her?

But Edward would protect her—as well would the others. She was sure of it then. Even if she did make a stupid mistake. They would forgive her; they were her friends.

* * *

Maria, Roy, Armstrong, and Bloch (who was half carried by the bulky man), were making their way back to the coastline. 

"So he loses himself, strips, and burns down the only paradise on this wretched island!" Roy was whining.

Maria was lagging some ways behind. She had heard soft whispers, soft voices and kept an eye out for anything that might be following them. Then she heard the voices more clearly.

Softly, she said, "Colonel, I'll be right back."

Roy shrugged, barely looking back at her.

Mari crept closer to the voices she heard. Cupping her hand to her ear, she began to eavesdrop. She couldn't see anyone, but she dared not get too close. It was the voice of a man; however, it was unfamiliar. She had never heard him before. Were there people living on this island? Too curious, she leaned over and saw _them._ The homunculi. All of them and one she hadn't seen before. It took all of her willpower to keep from whimpering. Envy, the shape changer crowned with a head of wild green hair, was speaking.

"…city…the girl…eyes…" She only caught drifts. She leaned closer. "…to find…Philosopher's stone, we need Bloch…."

Maria covered her mouth to restrain from gasping. As quietly as she could she crept away then began running.

They wanted _Bloch?_ _Why?_

* * *

Well nishte to that. 

I might go mute too if I saw Bloch naked….eesh….


	4. Twinkle, Twinkle

**The Island of Narid**

**Chapter Four: Twinkle, Twinkle**

Yes, I still do not own FMA… --sigh--

Hm… another lengthy chapter… that's either good or bad; I'll leave it up to you to decide. ;P

oh, now if what Rose is "saying" is in single quotes, then she is either nodding or writing it on the ground…just to clear up any confusions you may have.

* * *

Long days passed without much interest. Despite the fact that Rose lost her voice and Winry and Ed were scratched, things proceeded as normal. No one knew how Rose got the wound on her neck save herself. When they questioned her about it, she would become uneasy and refuse to give them any hints or gestures. And none was able to sooth Rose's cut, for she jumped away when they approached with a new bandage. She would quickly dart forward and snatch the cloth and flee, making sure that she was out of eyesight when she changed her bandage. No one would know of her brand without her exploring first. And she wanted to see it before them. Often she looked in the ocean waters to glimpse, but the surface was too rough and her image would not reflect clear enough. 

Rose was more distant from everyone, but was insistent on never being left completely alone. Kit was always by her side or in her arms; Al didn't mind. Kit would be happier out in the air than left inside his hot armor. Now that everyone knew, it was pointless to hide her. Everyone eventually got used to the kitten Rose carried around, including Black Hayate. They turned out to be playmates and were found skittering across the sand, knocking each other over and biting each other's ears.

Rose winced, unwinding a strip of Ed's red cloak from her sticky wound. It would begin bleeding again whenever she turned her neck, and even sometimes when she ate. Always it caused her pain. Hawkeye had loaned some of her thin military jacket this time, as the bleeding was not as severe as before. Not to mention the fabric would be much cooler. The bloody bandage was hard to separate from her skin, as the blood had fused to her flesh. Trying as carefully as she could, she peeled the fabric off, feeling the scabs reopen and start to bleed.

"Rose?"

The violet-eyed girl started, turning toward Winry who was meekly standing off. Her hands were held in front of her and clasped.

"Will you please let me help? Roy said the pool in the island has cleared up enough from the smoke. I could wash it."

Rose covered her neck with her hand and turned away.

"Please, Rose, accept some help! Why are you always keeping by yourself? I wish you would at least show us something so we could understand how it happened!"

Rose sighed and walked slowly over to Winry, still covering her wound. She nodded sullenly. She could see the relief flash over Winry's face.

"We've all been really worried about you."

Rose, with her free hand, gestured to the numerous cuts lining Winry's left eye. The blonde-haired girl laughed lightly.

"Don't fret about me. They were hardly deep, not nearly as bad as we all thought. Kit can't do too much; she's only a young kitten."

Rose went back to her spot and retrieved the strip of cloth, as well as wrapping her hand around Kit's middle and hoisting her up to her chest. Winry offered to carry the cat, but Rose declined.

They were both told where to find the falls, and Winry had been shown by Roy and Hawkeye exactly how to get there. She led Rose through the forest as it grew thicker. It took a while, but time didn't matter on the island; nothing but day and night really mattered.

Deeper into the forest, Rose began to grow uneasy and jumpy. When wind passed through the rustling leaves she fidgeted with her cloth nervously. Winry looked back at her with worried eyes. Something must have happened near here. Was it an animal that created the cut on her neck?

Despite Rose's nervousness, they both arrived at the burnt black part of the forest. The ground was not even hot anymore. They walked to the water's edge where they sat themselves down and washed their tired feet in its cool water. Kit skipped from rock to rock happily.

"Will you let me see it?" Winry asked cautiously. She knew Rose had never revealed the wound to anyone. No one knew the nature of her cut—how deep, how extreme. She hoped Rose would finally accept help.

Rose hesitated for a long moment before taking a deep breath and releasing her hand from her neck. Winry saw only a pool of fresh and dried blood. She knew Rose was expecting a reaction, but Winry only wetted part of the bandage and sponged the blood. Rose clenched her teeth against the pain. Yet she felt more content now; there was not special symbol, no mark of death.

Finally, Winry spoke. "It's nothing more than we expected. Why didn't you let us help you sooner?"

Rose shuddered.

"Well thanks for warming up. You're lucky—I don't think it's infected. But it looks like it hurts. I hope I'm not pressing too hard."

Rose shook her head. The water actually felt refreshing.

Rose suddenly felt Winry behind her tense. She turned and found Winry's hand to be shaking. Her eyes were wide open.

"Turn back around." She said with an urgency and fear that made Rose feel insecure and nervous. Rose didn't comply until Winry ordered again, more pressing. Frightened, heart fluttering, Rose turned her cut back to Winry who dabbed it a couple times more before gasping and dropping the cloth. Rose's breath caught in her throat. Why wasn't she saying anything?

Winry looked at the blood mark on Rose's neck. Now that the blood had been washed away she could see it wasn't just a puncture wound, or a deep scratch. It was a _symbol_. One carved by another person. A serpent was curled into a circle, mouth agape, as if swallowing its own tail. It had a pair of tiny, flightless wings on both sides and in the middle lay six triangles, all aligned in a pattern. Winry whimpered, recognizing the mark.

"Rose—" Winry choked out, "has Ed ever told you of homunculi?"

Rose shook her head. She didn't want to know what it meant. She didn't like the way Winry was talking; it scared her.

"So you've heard nothing at all of those dressed in black? With violet eyes?"

Rose shook her head violently back and forth.

"The—the Homunculi—they aren't human. Ed told me they have bodies of no substance; one can bite through anything, one can change his shape, one can stretch her fingernails to unreal length—"

Rose covered her ears with her hands, shuddering. She felt her eyes tingle and dampen.

"Rose you need to listen!" Winry cried, pinning the dusky-skinned girl's arms down. Winry's voice rose to a frantic shriek, half mad, "They were people who died! Then others tried to bring them back to life and they became those creatures without a soul! With violet eyes—like yours! Do you remember the gate, Rose?" She was shaking the poor girl now harshly by the shoulders, her eyes widened and insane. "The gate that—"

"Winry!" A stern female voice commanded. Winry fell away from the silent-sobbing Rose as Hawkeye rushed forward and placed herself between the two. "Might I ask what you were doing?"

Winry, still caught in a fit, screeched words so fast and so high they were inaudible. Hawkeye put her hands on Winry's shoulders, keeping her still.

"Calm down."

Winry closed her eyes, her breath heaving from her chest and getting caught it her throat.

Rose covered her face with her hands, washing saltwater tears over her palms. What was Winry saying—that _she_ was one of those monsters? Then she remembered Cain, the boy she used to love so dearly before he passed away. Cornello had promised he'd bring him back, but only succeeded in creating a beast of a bird that tried to take her own life. If Cornello had really tried, would one of those _creatures_ been born? And then Edward came and told her that he and Al tried to bring their deceased mother back to life and lost their limbs, even an entire body. Was Winry claiming that she had no soul? That her body was something mutated? But then why didn't she know?

Winry was talking to Riza, but Rose didn't hear a word of the conversation. She was too caught up in her own terror. She jumped when a hand fell softly on her shoulder. Whipping around, she saw Winry take off back to camp and Hawkeye standing over her. Rose edged away from the woman and clasped her arms about herself.

"Rose, listen. Winry was just frightened and overreacted." She touched Rose's arm gently. "Will you let me see?"

Rose sighed brokenly. Why did it matter, now that Winry would be screaming of it to all of the camp? She turned, but only slightly, so that Riza could see the blood mark.

Riza didn't seem frightened. She kept up her calm demeanor, "It's plainly a flesh wound. The others have the mark since their second 'birth'." She paused then. "Did you do this to yourself?

Rose shook her head, a 'no'.

"Someone did this to you?"

'Yes.'

"Was there more than one?

Rose nodded. She felt so helpless, unable to explain herself. The remnants of tears on her cheeks were smudged away by the back of her hand, leaving rubbed dirt in its place.

"Do you know why they marked you?" The tan-skinned girl slowly shook her head from side to side. "I wish I knew what they said to you…"

Rose turned away and closed her eyes, breathing steady and deep. She began to recompose herself, first emotionally, and then staying her violent shudders. Slowly she felt herself become still and she brought her shoulders back and straightened her spine. When Hawkeye and she returned, she knew the others would eye her strangely, now that her secret had been revealed. Though she hoped Hawkeye would clear up any doubts anyone had, she still feared there would be an aura of wariness around her.

* * *

Winry sighed and cleared her thoughts. She pushed her face to curve in a slight content smile. She could see the beach, where her company sat all motionless in silence. She patted her hair down and rubbed her cheeks—to make sure no salt tears still lingered. 

Looking calmed and reserved, Winry took a deep breath and strode into the midst of camp. Some glanced up at her but no one spoke. Winry released her hold of air when none questioned her and sat down next to Al, toying distractedly with the scrub plants that sprouted from the white sand. She was barely noticed, and for that Winry was glad. She had no desire to talk of the matter of Rose.

A couple moments after she returned, her mind fell away from the homunculi symbol on Rose's flesh and entered into the drowsy ruse of a daydream. Her head fell onto her hand and her eyes unfocused for a while—until a certain voice snapped her harshly from her blissful reverie.

"Where's Rose?"

Winry slowly lifted her head up to the boy who looked at her with a worry she knew he tried to conceal. She met his face with a forced smile. "She's back at the falls with the lieutenant." Despite herself, she faltered with her words, "They might take a while."

Ed didn't hear her voice quiver, or if he did he concealed it well. He shrugged and turned away, acting unconcerned.

Winry felt her muscles relax, glad he eluded conversation. She knew Rose was not homunculus; before she was wrapped in the dark embrace of paranoia then. But the mark itself revealed a truth she never expected to have on this island: homunculi themselves, or someone in league with them was here. And the only one who knew anything was Rose, and her voice had been robbed. Winry wondered if it would be wise to tell Ed or Roy what she knew, but she wouldn't until she had Rose's consent. The girl was still her friend, whether she was marked by the Sinful or not.

* * *

It was near dusk when Rose and Riza returned. Many were startled by their appearance, as they had forgotten the two were gone during the day. When they came, Riza's face was unreadable as always, but beside her Rose looked away from all who attempted to meet her eyes. A new lighter cloth was bound around her neck, and it seemed the bleeding had lessened greatly, for the white cloth was barely stained with a faint rub of crimson. 

Winry was the first to meet them. Quickly she whispered, "I'm sorry—I just panicked. I shouldn't have. And—and don't worry, I didn't tell anyone."

Rose nodded that faint, sad smile on her lips.

Then Ed came to them, searching their expressions. Rose turned away again, and fixed her gaze on the cream-bellied kitten who gazed up at her without worry, unable to understand the situation.

She and Riza had spent hours upon hours talking of the homunculi. Rose had learned their terrible secrets from what the lieutenant knew. Rose learned their names and their purpose—the only goal they strived for. To find the same stone Ed and Al were seeking, but on that topic Riza would not go into further. It was not said to frighten Rose, though it did. It was spoken so that Rose would know about those who marked her. Rose had taken one of the few twigs that had not fallen to ashes and wrote her questions in the soft bank of the waterfall. It gave Rose a new energy, rather than being unable to communicate entirely save with nods.

When everyone noticed that Riza would not say anything (assuming it unimportant), they left them and returned to their normal tasks of boiling watch or cooking a small crayfish. As Edward turned to leave them, Hawkeye reached out and took hold of his wrist.

Ed faced them again, bewildered. Riza's face had for once, softened, though Edward still couldn't hell what she implied. Then Riza stepped away from Rose and while she passed Ed, she whispered,

"I want you to tell her what the homunculi look like. The reason is not for you to know yet."

Rose gasped, overhearing her words, despite Riza's attempt at being discreet. She didn't want Ed to know—she didn't want him to worry. She looked at Hawkeye before she turned away and all she saw in the lieutenant's eyes was hard resolution.

Ed gazed at Rose with a kind of numb fear. She looked away and didn't move or even notice when he walked toward her. Only when he took a gentle hold of her arm did she heed his presence. He began to lead her to a place where the rest of the company would not overhear. Rose glanced at his face and realized he was dreading the topic as much as she. Why did Riza ask him to say? She had told Rose that Ed had been through terrible times with the homunculi and Rose didn't want to remind him of the pain.

Ed sat Rose and Kit down on a large smooth boulder where the ocean waves lapped gently on its sides. He, himself, sat on the one text to her and shifted nervously in an awkward silence before finally talking.

"This isn't the easiest thing to talk about." He eventually said softly. Rose guiltily averted her eyes and Ed realized his mistake. "No, I'm sorry—I didn't mean that I didn't want to—" He broke off.

Rose slid off the rock and knelt on the sand, releasing Kit from her hold. Slightly embarrassed for having to talk to him in such a manner, she dragged her finger through the sand. 'You don't have to tell me.'

Ed came beside her. "No, I was just wondering—why you would need to know…"

After a moment she shook her head, sighing, clearly symbolizing she had no intention of letting him know.

Edward said nothing for a while. Then he took a deep breath and spoke of everything he knew—and Rose recognized some of which he spoke of: the two that always lingered around Cornello's temple were described. Ed's tone would oft go low and he would refuse to look at her when he spoke of his mother and his teacher's child.

By the time Ed had finished speaking, Rose was clutching Kit close to her and shaking. Tears began to form at the corners of her eyes in fear, but as Ed was looking away she quickly suppressed them. When he found her face again he apologized meekly for scaring her. Rose didn't respond.

Eventually, the two climbed up to their feet and walked slowly back to the others.

"I see you two needed some time alone" Roy snickered at the pair when they returned. Hawkeye brought her hand back and slapped the colonel in the back of his head.

"Quiet. You're being childish," she scolded.

Ed fell back, blushing. He opened his mouth to remark but could not think of anything that he could say to defend himself.

Al stood up and made his way over to Ed. "Brother, I need to talk to you in private." He sounded nervous.

Ed couldn't restrain from smirking and the redness in his cheeks faded away. He felt as if he had finally reached the upper hand. He let Alphonse lead him away from everybody else, back to the place he spoke with Rose.

"What's up, Al?" He asked casually.

Alphonse was fidgeting distractedly. "Um…brother, this is about Rose."

As predicted. Ed stood off a little, cocking his leg and crossing his arms. He knew in this smug mood he was hardly a brotherly figure, but he couldn't help but feel that sense wash over him.

"Rose wasn't the one to bring Kit on the plane; I was. She was just watching her when I was in the water."

"What are you talking about?" This Ed had not expected.

"Remember—on the plane? I had thought you overheard, since you were practically crawling into our row…you didn't overhear us talking about Kit?"

Ed's leisured stance abruptly vanished. He hunched over, put an arm behind his head and laughed nervously as he always did. That unwanted heat rose in his face; he felt it go crimson with embarrassment. He felt a fool. Why did he ever think that Alphonse would talk that way to a girl? Al would probably be much too bashful to sweet-talk.

"Um…brother?"

"Heh, never mind, Al. Yeah, it's all right—Kit's not any trouble, she manages to catch her own food anyway, there's no problem."

He was speaking too fast and too high. "What's making you jumpy?"

"Nothing! I just don't mind Kit—she's fine!"

Alphonse shook his head. What did he say that got Ed all hyped up?

* * *

"You want to go _swimming?_" Ed asked incredulously. "You don't even know how to swim!" 

It had been a half an hour since Rose, Winry, and Riza decided to cool off in the ocean. Rose's cut wasn't bleeding anymore, so the saltwater caused her no pain. But she still kept it covered, for reasons only she and the two other girls with her knew.

"Well I've always wanted to try." Alphonse said with an obvious star-crossed hope.

Edward smiled wryly. "So you want to know how to keep your blood seal from washing away?"

"Yes."

Ed got up from where he sat and made his way over to the crashed plane, now rusted and falling apart. The pilot or whoever stole their food reserve took only that. All their spare clothes and other goods were left untouched. Edward walked inside and burrowed through one of the bags till he found what he sought—a small box filled with press-on wrap sheets. Grinning cheekily, he brought them over to Alphonse, who by the way he scoffed seemed utterly insulted.

Yet the boy lifted his helmet off nevertheless and let his older brother place the plastic sheet over his blood seal and press together the seams. After Alphonse skipped merrily into the water, Ed went to Maria, who was watching over Bloch, as always.

The poor man was still unwell, as all new plant and fruit findings were tested by him. But he was recovering. It had been a couple weeks since he was last fed a questionable plant.

"I don't think Bloch will be on another streaking field-day soon. Why don't you join them?" He sat down.

Maria attempted a smile, "I'm not much of a swimmer." There were other reasons that she wouldn't leave Bloch but she had told no one yet.

Kit, who was frolicking in the sand, hopped onto Ed's lap, startling him. She gazed up at him with adoring violet eyes. His face softened and he rubbed the kitten's ears. Kit began her rhythmic purr and sprawled across his lap, warm and drowsy in the sun.

"I take it you don't mind being her at all?"

"Nah."

Maria cocked her head and smiled, attempting to find a hint in his expression. "Any other day you would flip out if Alphonse brought along one of his kittens. What's different now?"

"Ah, it's not worth saying."

"Or is it worth too much?"

"Hey, Maria!" Winry's voice suddenly cried out, "Come on in!"

Maria turned from the stumped Edward and declined the offer. She wouldn't risk leaving Bloch—he was wanted by the Homunculi. Maria glanced back at Ed and for a moment contemplated over telling him what she overheard but she rejected the idea.

"All right, but if you want to later, just join us!"

The three girls dove underneath the surface, cooling their sun-burned skin and enjoying the slight freedom. They spun in the cold caress of the waters and rose back to the top, brushing the hair away from their eyes and refilling their lungs of air for another submergence. Rose, dunking her head for a brief moment to force her bangs away from her face, rose above the surface again only to be showered with a fierce wave of saltwater. Rubbing her eyes, she glared at the giggling Winry, whose current mood resembled a young schoolgirl. Rose sunk a ways down into the ocean water so only her eyes remained above the surface and snuck over to Winry.

Rose leapt up and threw her hands on the blonde's shoulders, dunking the girl. Hawkeye shook her head when Winry came up and raised her hand, signifying sternly that she would take no part in their childplay.

When Winry propelled forward to return an attack, her hands outstretched toward the tan-skinned girl, Hawkeye shouted loudly, averting their attention.

"Shark!" Riza cried in alarm.

Rose and Winry fearfully whipped around and shrieked, for coming toward them was a silver fin. Panicking, the two girls followed Hawkeye as she swam over to a mound of surfaced rock, screaming the entire way.

Those on the beach rose to their feet, watching the three clamor on top of a small rock. They clung to each other, shivering.

"Are you all right?" Maria cried.

Riza was the one to answer, "We're fine, but stranded for a while."

"I'm not going back in the water to swim back!" Winry shrieked. The fin circled around the rocks for a while before slowly retreating under the surface. Still the girls dared not move.

"Aw man!" Alphonse muttered. He had been walking into the water when he realized his heavy armor would not permit him to swim. Of course when he found that out, he was already submerged; only the top of his helmet was above water as he walked along the bottom helplessly, fighting against the current. At least he need not worry about breathing. He had felt the ground rise a bit, but then the current knocked him off-balance and he stumbled, falling down to the sandy bottom.

"Do you think it's gone?" Winry asked. Her question was not answered.

Rose was fiddling half-mindedly with the small pebbles where she sat, with one cheek resting on her hand drowsily. She probably hadn't even heard the blue-eyed girl talk. Riza was watching Black Hayate sleeping on the beach, warming in the sun.

Bored, Winry crawled around the tiny landhill, searching for any thing that would be of the slightest amusement. One of the sides dropped off like a small cliff and so she lay on her stomach, draping her head and arms off the side. She gasped when she saw not a rocky surface but a hollow cavern. Leaning a bit farther, she peered in upside down and saw glittering in the cave the bright blue lights she and Rose found on their first days on the island.

Winry threw her head back up and shook Rose's shoulder. Through a curtain of dark brown hair, Rose questionably looked at the girl who was smiling with excitement.

"Remember those lights we saw?"

Rose nodded, suddenly curious. Winry didn't need to say anymore, for Rose climbed over to where Winry previously sat. Winry looked again over the side and Rose followed.

"What are you two doing over there?" Riza asked, half-laughing.

"Rose, lower me down." Rose did as she was bidden, helping Winry hop down onto the shallow waters in the cave bottom.

Rose whipped her head round to Riza and smiled, implying that she was eager to follow Winry's lead. Hawkeye helped the girl down before she, herself, leapt down onto the edge of the cave.

The saltwater only reached up to their ankles as it breathed and swelled. The three looked into the entrance a while, gazing at the cyan lights and the almost pulsing way they shone. They seemed to dim and brighten to the waves' ebb, throbbing like a beating heart. Slowly, with Hawkeye leading, the girls stepped forward into the cave. It was not dark, for the sunlight shone through and the numerous blue jewels gave off enough light to see by. So they were not afraid—merely curious and awestruck. Further in they stepped until the lights grew so numerous the cave seemed bathed and ablaze in cerulean glow. There they stopped.

All in perfect synch, the lights pulsed around them, so fierce the girls could have sworn they heard the throb of them.

Rose cautiously put her palms to the stones and leaned against their smooth surfaces, till the flesh of her cheek lay against the icy cool rock. The others tentatively brushed their surface with their hands in amazement.

"So you two have seen these stones before?" Hawkeye questioned at length, remembering what Winry said.

Winry turned her way, "Yes—though only one. And it was small, hardly something of wonder."

Rose closed her eyes, enjoying the coolness of the stone and the gentle water curling round her ankles. Then her lids snapped wide open when she felt the rock beneath her skin tremble for a moment, almost swaying in when the light dimmed and returning with a slight shake of earth when it grew brighter.

Barely noticed, with Hawkeye and Winry still conversing, Rose slipped further down the tunnel and found the walls now engraved into. Dark blue writing was written into the cyan stone. IT was in a language unknown to Rose.

The tremor grew slightly, and it seemed as if Rose could hear a soft, endearing whisper from the cave's core.

"Rose?" Winry's voice called. Rose simply splashed the cave water with her foot and the two others came to her.

Riza and Winry immediately saw the runes embellished on the walls and leaned far in, attempting to decipher their words.

It was then that the whisper that crooned to Rose grew louder and was recognized as a young girl's voice, singing softly. All three stared into the deep of the tunnel, listening.

But none of them could understand the words, though the pleading and sorrowful tone of the girl led them to believe this was no happy occasion. They stepped in further, toward the voice until she grew louder, almost sobbing.

The earth beneath them shook violently then with each stone's pulse. A great cracking could be heard above them, threatening to topple the cave.

"Out of here, now!" Hawkeye commanded over the shudders and the girl who now screamed.

"But what about the girl?"

"Grab Rose and get out of here!"

Struggling against the shaky ground, Winry took hold of Rose's hand and ran over to the mouth of the cave, with Hawkeye following.

The small girl's voice, shrieking with fear, slowly faded away from their ears as they ran further away and left her in the cave's depths.


	5. Hierra

**The Island of Narid**

Chapter Five: Hierra

"Run this by me again. You mean to tell me you found a cave where blue stones "breathed", the earth shook, and a strange girl was singing?"

"Yes!" Winry cried, exasperated.

"Colonel, despite how ludicrous it may seem it's true."

"I think the sun's been getting to you." Roy commented.

Edward suddenly rushed in between them, frantic with worry, "Have you seen Alphonse?"

Hawkeye turned to him in calm demeanor, "No, I haven't seen him since this morning. What's wrong?"

"I let him go _swimming?_ What in the world made me agree to _that?_ He's a walking suit of armor—he couldn't swim anyway!" Ed frenzied, pacing.

* * *

"Ah! No—get away! Please leave me alone!" Alphonse cried, still underwater, in dismay. A violent swarm of minnows were mercilessly nibbling on his plastic press-on bag and his armor. He had caught his metal foot on a rock and there it wedged, and so he stood at the ocean floor, flailing.

And then, Al felt nothing. His eyes opened and he saw only ocean water; there was no fish near him anymore. Then he gasped as a slight wind-current blew the thread on his helmet for a moment before stilling. Two thin tan arms—Rose?—wrapped about his ankle and wrenched it up from its prison in the rocks. Once free, Alphonse whipped around. But he only saw a receding shadow.

* * *

"Let me go!" Ed cried, struggling against two pairs of arms, on fair and one dark. "Please! He's probably stuck somewhere in the sand or—"

"Edward!" Winry shouted over him, "Please stop! He'll be fine! And you can't swim, either; it will help nothing if you just throw yourself out there!"

The boy was already dragging the two girls into the shallow waters of the beach when he heard a young voice call his name. He stopped immediately, jerking Winry and Rose forward.

"Al?"

The boy was slowly draining the water out of his armor and making his way toward them. When he saw Rose, he stopped. Her hair was dry and she had on clothes only wet near the hems where thy splashed in the saltwater.

"Swimming? Never again, okay Al?" Edward breathed, relieved for Al's appearance.

Alphonse wasn't paying attention. "Rose…? I thought you were in the water."

Winry spoke for her, "She was before—I was too."

"No, I mean, just now. My foot was stuck and you pulled it loose."

There was an awkward moment of silence before Winry said slowly, "Rose was right here. She's not even wet."

"You probably just imagined it," Edward covered the uncomfortable topic hastily.

"She had your skin color, and brown hair, I think."

Winry started suddenly and Rose turned toward her, knowing what each was thinking. Eventually she looked back at Alphonse. "Well, in the cave a little girl was singing—so there has to be other people here."

"You're still insisting on that story? Just give it up, there's no way the ground could 'pulse' or shake when we don't feel…" His voice faded away when Rose and Winry glared at him with such a ferocity he didn't dare continue.

"Maybe there _are_ other people here," Alphonse came in timidly, "if we both saw or heard them it's very likely."

That's when Rose paled and began to back away slowly. Yes, there were other people. There was the dark-eyed man and his group who gave her the mark of the homunculi.

"Rose?"

She looked up to see all of them turned toward her with worried eyes. Quickly, she smothered her own frets with a smile and they shrugged it off. Still a tad uneasy Rose left them to retreat to Kit who was dozing on the sand.

"HA! They'll never get me! I will defeat them with my beautiful and graceful body!" Armstrong was a way off, hysterically talking to himself and pacing. In the last few days he had dug a miraculous cavern hideout—or rather, a hole in the sand—that he sat in day and night, muttering madly. Too much sun; too little food. That's what everyone thought, and left him well enough alone to his own insanity.

Kit stretched out at Rose's approach and happily let the girl scratch her stomach. In no less than a moment after, Armstrong leapt their way, nearly tackling the small kitten. Rose was quick though, and wrenched Kit away from the bulky man as he dove onto the sand. Rose fumbled away from him and opened her mouth in a soundless cry of surprise.

"You're protecting the enemy!" Armstrong howled, pointing a muscular finger at the alarmed Kit in Rose's arms. "You're not on our side!" He hurled himself at the kitten and dark-skinned girl only to fall flat onto the sand when Rose scrambled away.

"What's going on?" Everyone rushed to the scene. Two arms jerked Rose back; Armstrong was ready to spring again.

"What's wrong with you?"

Armstrong gazed around them with wild eyes, "She's protecting the enemy! My muscles and I will put an end to this—" He was silenced by a blow to the head. He tumbled to the sand and lay there, unmoving.

Edward, with his right arm half-raised above where Armstrong's head once was, stood awkwardly, retrieving odd looks from the rest of camp.

"…you didn't have to _kill_ him!"

"Hey, he's still alive!" Edward held up his arms out, pleading innocence.

"He was getting annoying anyway…" Roy muttered, shrugging. He left the scene and took no further notice. The others took his lead after a small moment's pause. They figured Armstrong really wasn't that important anyway.

Winry turned to Rose, "So what got him angry?"

Rose held Kit up and shook her head with annoyance. But Winry could tell she was shaken by being the target of wrath of the hulkiest man alive.

Then, startling Rose, Winry suddenly laughed. When a baffled Rose looked her way she said, "What a mess this is getting to be!"

* * *

_Rose was running, sprinting through the trees of the island. It was dark, and fog curled around the leaves, making the air thick and heavy. She could barely see in front of her but yet she was pressing on as fast as her legs could manage._

_She was being pursued._

_Whipping her head round, Rose saw none of those who hunted her, only white mist and empty forest. Turning forward again she stopped, nearly crashing into the man that stood before her. Crowned in golden-blonde curls, the dark-eyed boy caught her shoulders. A sickly dark grin plastered his face. When she struggled against him he only held her tighter. And then behind him more came forward, slowly, as if appearing from the mist itself._

_The nearest was a tall woman with waves of ebony silk framing a divine face. Her narrow eyes were violet, and her lips were pressed into a thin smile. Another woman followed, this time with straight hair—and then another person—a child, who wore on his face a dark glare, surrounded by thick black hair. And last a pupilless man, bulky in form, stepped toward her. His grin was wide and covered in saliva. He eyed her hungrily._

_They were all clothed in black, save for the dark-eyed boy who held her shoulders still. He had on a brown vest—but it soon vanished as a white light washed his figure. When it was gone, he had changed wholly—he was an entirely different person. Untamed dark hair hung around his face and his eyes were violet now. Before Rose absorbed what had just happened he was showered in the same intense light again._

_Rose gasped, because now holding onto her was Edward. He tore the light cloth from Rose's neck where the oroborus mark lay and traced around it with his finger. After a moment of searing pain, her neck went numb and she felt nothing but warm liquid slide down her neck. In a foreign voice that certainly was not Edward's, he bent close, and whispered teasingly, "Who would you like me to be?"_

_It was Al who stood before her now—then Winry, and then the monster became a tall girl clothed in a cream-colored dress with thick brown hair and a dark-skinned face framed by rose-hued bangs._

_It was her._

_Rose struggled from the beast that mirrored her. But the other only drew up her eyebrows in mock concern and said, in her own voice, "What's wrong?" It mocked her, "Can't you cry for help?"_

* * *

Rose shot up straight from where she slept. She was shivering uncontrollably and the cut on her neck ached. Looking around her, she realized she was sitting on the shack in the beach. Everyone was sleeping and didn't notice she had awoken. Outside the shed it was raining, but thanks to Edward none inside was even the slightest bit damp. Rain pattered gently on the roof above her.

Her breathing returned to normal. It was simply a dream. A sudden pain caught the side of her neck then, making her gag. Trembling, she placed her hand upon it and found it was slick. Her mark was bleeding again.

Rose threw over the blanket she slept under and found dry sand. With her finger, she traced in what her dream Edward was drawing on her neck. She closed her eyes, remembering the exact movements. When it was done, she slowly turned to look at it. It was sloppy, but she still got what it meant. It was of a dragon or serpent, devouring its own tail. There were other symbols around and inside it but she didn't understand what they meant. Hawkeye had explained before that those monsters, the homunculi, had the mark of the "oroborus", when described seemed to be exactly what lay on the sand before her. Terrified, she fled from camp, not into the forest, but on the tree-line, where she could see whatever was coming near.

When her legs were sore and numb from running she collapsed exhaustedly on the soaked sand beneath her. Rain struck her body; every drop was another glass shard upon her skin. Lifting her head she realized how foolishly impetuous she had been. And now she was far from camp; cold, wet, and alone.

Alone.

That was the last thing she wished to be. Clutching her arms about her sides, Rose shivered and stood, gazing around her. Then she heard something—an intake of breath and a child's whisper. Whipping her head around, she saw the shadow of a small, frail girl in-between the branches of the forest.

Cautiously Rose stepped forward, and held her hand out gently towards the girl. She saw the other peek through the leaves and slowly start to come to her. Only the moon and the stars provided light, but in it she could see clearly the girl's thick, long hair.

Rose stopped, suddenly struck with fear. She remembered her dream, and the little boy with hair thicker than even her own, and how he was nearly the same height as the child that stood hauntingly before her.

"Toheru niutet?" The small girl asked very softly, quivering.

Rose relaxed. It was a girl, and not the wild, violet-eyed one from her nightmare. But Rose could not answer; she only knelt in the wet sand and beckoned the child nearer.

"Toheru niutet?" The girl repeated, bolder now.

Rose put one hand to her throat and shook her head. The girl came nearer, stopping only a breadth's pace away. She had large eyes and a small nose, all delicately framed by long, dark hair. A small, handmade bag lay on her hip, slung with a strap around her shoulder and neck. She whispered something inaudible and faintly smiled. Rose gasped when the girl held out her tiny hand; even in the dark Rose could tell their dusky skin held the same hue. Rose gently held out her own palm and she placed it on top of the girl's, not risking taking hold of it lest the girl shy and frighten.

"Nana huzhetá Hierra."

Rose raised her eyebrows in bewilderment and tilted her head, hoping the girl would know her movement's meaning.

"Hierra," the girl prodded, much more insisting. Then with her free hand she forcefully pointed to her chest and repeated, "Hierra, tushté Hierra."

Her name? Rose would have given her own, but when her lips parted to speak, no sound came out, as always. Hierra waited for a reply. Rose touched her throat tentatively again and shook her head slowly.

"Kah pudu?" The girl's tone was softer now.

With a frustrated sigh, Rose released the girl's hands and stood up. Hierra caught her arms as she rose and held it. "Niutet karzh? Hierra tozhde."

Rose shook her head again. Why couldn't she see that she didn't understand? Rose knew she should return to camp before the rest awoke and found the thing she drew by her bedside. But could she just leave the child here alone in the rain? The girl seemed bereft of family, and Rose knew first-hand how lonely and disconsolate it could be alone in the world when her parents died. She wanted none to live in such a manner. However, if Hierra had a family she could be blamed for kidnapping.

Though when she turned to leave, Hierra leapt forward and took ahold of her arm once more and refused to release her hold. Rose placed a soft head on the drenched head of Hierra and nodded finally, taking the girl's hand and leading her back to camp.

"Nyla!" Hierra suddenly screamed in her childish voice. Shy stopped, dug into one of the small bags slung around her shoulder and pressed something as cool as the rain itself into her palms.

When Rose saw what the child had given her she started. Lying cupped inside her soft, dark hands lay a blue stone, pulsing with each breath.

* * *

YAY, I GET NON-EXISTENT CANDY!

Squee!


	6. The Mystery Surrounding Bloch

**The Island of Narid**

**Chapter Six: The Mystery Surrounding Bloch and the Return**

I know things can get rather repetitive but bear with me please. --;

Still don't own FMA…

* * *

Rose and Hierra slowly and silently walked back to camp, fully drenched through. The rainfall heightened to its peak and it got colder than ever. When they returned, Rose became hesitant on entering. There was not nearly enough room for Hierra inside and they would make things cold and wet, disturbing many.

Hierra looked inside and then she shouted out, pointing a small finger at the sleeping Alphonse. Rose quickly knelt in front of the child and put a finger to her lips, silencing her cries.

Rose remembered the day before, when Al's foot was freed by someone with her own skin color. Looking at Hierra, she realized he must have seen the girl.

"…Rose?" A sleepy voice came from within the shack—Hierra's scream must have woken someone.

Hierra hid behind Rose, clutching her dress like the pink-haired girl had been an older sister.

Edward groggily sat up and stared at the silhouette of the two of them with blurry eyes still clouded by sleep. Then he saw the small girl holding fearfully to Rose. "Who is that?"

Hierra cowered, hiding her face. Rose gently put her hands upon Hierra's shoulders and urged her forward, but the child refused to move and was about to scream. Rose released her immediately, afraid she might wake more. She backed away from the shack, hoping Ed would just fall back into the ruse of sleep.

Ed stood up then, and carefully made his way across to them when abruptly he stopped. His mouth dropped open in a kind of unbelievable shock and he quivered. Rose winced—he was looking at her mistake by her bedside: the drawing she made of the symbol on her neck.

"Rose?" He began softly. "Did you do this?"

Rose leapt into the shack in a fit of panic, leaving Hierra for a moment, and smothered the symbol in the sand hastily. She looked up at Ed, who eyed her with reproach, and shook her head violently until she heard Hierra begin to cry.

Rose spun around and ran back outside, kneeling and wrapping her arms about the girl in attempt to quiet her. Then, afraid, for the girl kept crying, Rose hoisted the child into her arms and ran from the shack, stopping only when she was sure no one could hear her.

Edward followed her, ignoring the rain. When he found Rose she was seated on the rock that overlooked the ocean, still holding the weeping child.

"What's going on?"

Rose met his eyes for a moment before faltering and ripping her gaze aside. She shuddered, knowing he was still staring at her, took her arms from Hierra, and stood to face him. The cloth around her neck came off easily; the light fabric was already torn from the rain.

Edward flinched. The rain washed away the fresh blood from her skin and he saw the mark. He tried to say something, but his voice came out hoarse and inaudible. Rose in front of him didn't know how to show him what she yearned to tell—the sand was far too washed to etch a sentence in. She came to him with an expression wrought in hopelessness and begged for his understanding. Hierra was still crying.

"You didn't do that to yourself, did you, Rose?" Ed eventually choked out.

Rose shook her head sternly. She pointed to her neck, then the ground, spreading her arms out broadly and repeating the gesture until she found a reaction on his face.

"Homunculi? …Here?" His voice was no more than a muted whisper. At her nod, he cursed and turned away from her.

Rose backed up toward Hierra and wrapped her arms about the child, stroking her thick, soaked hair. They both shivered, chilled and wet. Eventually the small sobs grew quieter, until, at last, they ceased.

"So who is she?" Edward murmured after a long moment of silence.

Rose broke away from the girl and put a finger gently on Hierra's chest and then gesturing towards Ed. She opened her mouth, mimicking the child's name.

Her movement finally came across. "Tushté Hierra."

"What?" Ed bent to look at her. Rose moved aside a bit, but not enough to frighten the girl.

"Hierra." Wiping her eyes she repeated, "Hierra."

"You are Hierra?" When she gave him an expression of perplexion he pointed to her and said, "Hierra?"

She nodded.

He glanced to Rose quickly before pointing to himself. "Edward. Ed." Then to the pink-banged girl shivering on the side, "Rose."

"Rawse?" Hierra attempted in thick accent. A smile touched her face and she lunged toward the older girl, "Rawse!"

Rose nodded, smiling gently. But try as she might, she couldn't hide her shudders from the cold.

Edward stood up. "Come on, we've got to go back. You shouldn't be in the rain."

Hierra suddenly ran forward to Ed and wrapped her arms around him, but she couldn't remember his name and so an inaudible coo came from her mouth.

Edward laughed lightly, "Ed."

"Ed!" She cried, happily. She showed no discomfort from the rain. "Ed! Ed cör Rawse!"

Rose tenderly pried Hierra from Ed and took her hand. Together they all made way back to the shack, just as a string of white light flashed brilliantly in the sky and a great thunder followed.

When they neared camp, Ed crawled into the old plane and ran back into the small space in the shed. Under his arm he carried two thick towels. Looking around him he realized what limited space there was—only his and Rose's spots were clear and dry.

After wrapping a towel about her shivering body and one around Hierra, Rose swept the child into her arms and stepped inside. She sat upon her blanket and placed the dark girl onto her lap, sacrificing some comfort for Hierra. Because she was soaked through she found herself unable to cease shivering. Hierra seemed impervious to the weather and simply sat content, slowly growing drowsy.

There was maybe a half-hour's time before Hierra was sleeping across Rose's chest and Ed spoke again, partway still in reverie.

"Homunculi…" He breathed, "You sure they're here, Rose?" When he looked up at her he found her bent and leaning against the shack's wall, eyes closed in slumber behind a curtain of her dark hair. But still she shivered, faintly. And every once and a while her expression would fall sour and she looked as if in pain.

Having no intention to wake her, Edward wrapped his own damp self into a blanket and lay down. Sleep would not soothe him though; his thoughts were too troubled. Not only were they trapped on this isolated island, but the Sins had found their way here as well—and had already found Rose.

* * *

"Homunculi, Ed?" Roy said skeptically.

"Why the heck would I lie about this?" Edward roared. "Did you see the mark on her neck?" He waved an arm toward the shack, where inside Rose and Hierra were still asleep, weary from the night before.

Riza Hawkeye had been silent, but now she broke in calmly between the two, "I had conversed with Rose a few weeks past and I was able to understand that yes, she was indeed marked with their symbol, but when I described the monsters she gave no response. She only wrote that there was more than one."

"What's wrong over there?" Maria Ross called from her post. Their arguments woke her. Despite Ed's glare clearly warning her to stay out, Maria came to them.

When she realized Ed wasn't going to say anything, Hawkeye turned to Maria. "The wound on Rose's neck is the mark of the homunculi. I assume you are well aware of who they are?" At Maria's nod she continued, "Ed claims Rose told him that those creatures are here on the island."

Ed mumbled something angrily; however, no one noticed, for Maria Ross's face pulled tight, paling, and her breath grew strained. Then collecting her nerves, she glanced sidelong to the sleeping Bloch before facing Ed, Roy, and Hawkeye again.

"During the first couple of weeks—I saw them." Her eyes darkened, "They had said something—I hadn't told you earlier, but—"

Ed was by now fuming; Roy sternly thrust and arm out in front of his chest to make sure the boy would not lose his wits and scream foolishly.

"…but I was worried upon your reaction—and if the children would find out." Another pulse of rage washed over Edward's face, yet he said nothing.

"What did they say, do you remember?" Hawkeye inquired.

"They had said mutterings of a conversation I couldn't hear, at first. However, I heard the next sentence: 'to find the Philosopher's Stone, we need Bloch.'"

Everyone looked startled. There was an awkward air of silence after her voice stopped. They all gazed at the shack, where Bloch lay. He was perfectly lucid now—most of the poisons from the experimental plants had died away, leaving only a mild sickness.

"Maria, we'll take shifts on watching him. Anything even slightly suspicious will be thoroughly examined. They'll be no chances." Roy ordered at last.

Maria sighed, obviously relieved.

"I don't know why they want him, but I do know they will not get him."

"So why did they mark Rose?" Riza suddenly asked. It seemed she had been deep in thought for a while. "If the one they need is Bloch?"

Roy eyed the shack again. "I'm not sure. But we all should keep an eye out for her as well."

"And the child? What of her?"

Ed broke into the conversation again. "I told you, she wandered here and Rose took her in."

"Yes, but who _is_ she? She looks like a girl from Lior, but that's not possible."

Edward shrugged. "She can't speak English—but I'm pretty sure her name is Hierra. Other than that, I know nothing. There was nothing unusual about her."

"Even so, we should pay attention to what she does. Don't let her go off with Rose alone, okay?"

Ed nodded.

"Ed!" A sharp, cheerful voice broke through the dark solemnity of their talk. Hierra, still clothed in the damp kirtle from before, raced toward them and clung to Edward, smiling. "Takanë, Ed!"

"Hey, Hierra." Ed said, distracted.

Roy couldn't help but feel a faint grin tug at the corners of his mouth. "Well she's pretty taken to you."

Edward's one free arm waved indifferently, "Ah, I was just there and she's very clingy."

"Ed hana by-ni! Ed cör Rawse!" Hierra chimed again before she saw, a small distance away, Alphonse, lovingly stroking a lounging cream-colored kitten. The girl gasped, releasing Ed suddenly and running for Al. When she reached him she stood as tall as her young body permitted.

"Ana'ha!"

Al looked up before kneeling in front of Hierra. He laughed lightly. "Oh, hello. You must be the child Rose came back with last night, huh?"

Hierra pointed to his foot and grinned from ear to ear in pride. Then she skipped a tad sprightly in the cool early morning air. "Hierra."

Before Al could question, Ed walked over and said, "It's her name: Hierra." He bent down a little to her height, put an arm across her shoulder, and pointed to his brother. "Al."

"Awl—Ahl…" She fumbled with the unfamiliar vowel. Eventually the sound rolled off her lips and she squealed with joy, reciting the brothers' names. She still held Edward's arm.

From a couple paces away, they heard the fair giggle of Winry, who eyed them. She pushed a shock of blonde hair away from her eyes and said teasingly, "You're acting so fatherly, Ed. You're so adorable!"

The golden-eyed boy felt an unwanted rose tint blush his cheeks and he turned to Al abruptly, trying to cover up his own uneasiness. "Hey, Al, didn't your foot get freed by a girl like Rose?"

Al gasped, realizing. His gaze fell to the young Hierra, who had one hand clasped around Edward's arm and the other tentatively reaching toward Kitty. She giggled when the cat leapt up and brushed her soft fingers with the wet tip of her nose. Hierra's blue eyes were lit in euphoria.

"I think—I think it was her, Ed. The girl."

"Hierra."

Winry smiled, watching the two and the small girl between them who played with Kit in the warm sands. Hierra was so much like Rose, in appearance, at least. The dark, thick hair, and even their skin tone matched in the same hue. It seemed eerily and impossibly coincidental.

"Rose, you're up! How are you?" Maria greeted.

Hierra's head whipped up alertly at the first word and she sped forward on her tiny legs to the drowsy violet-eyed girl who stepped slowly out of the shelter. Rose caught Hierra with one arm; the other palm was across her head.

"Rawse nana vishmo!"

"Rose, are you all right?" Maria's voice heightened in concern.

Rose nodded, smiling and taking her arm down, though inside she knew the rain hadn't been very good for her. She hadn't hardly been anywhere but her desert city, and there it barely ever even sprinkled. She wasn't used to the cold, the dampness. Rose ignored the other "good-morning" greetings and searched the beach for Winry. When their eyes met, Rose waved her hand, and Winry stood up, understanding.

"Hey." Winry said cheerfully, as always.

Rose gave a slight smile in return before kneeling in front of Hierra. She pointed to Ed, then, and waited till the girl ran back to him in the sands. Rose and Winry went behind the shack, where they were unseen.

There, Rose took from a pocket in her cream dress something small. Her fingers opened, revealing to Winry the pulsing blue stone, cool and smooth.

"Is that Hierra's?" Winry questioned. Rose nodded and at once Winry knew what Rose planned to do. Whispering now, she said, "Tonight, after dark."

Rose took in a large, quivering breath and inclined her head once more.

* * *

Shallow water caressed their ankles as they stood in the dark, save for the dim moonlight partway hidden by clouds, and the foreign glow of the millions of cyan stones that lined the walls above, and to both sides.

They stepped in.

* * *

Well there you go, much sooner than the time it took last update.

And I love my plushy. Squee:D

Here's a gift to all of the cough like 5 cough readers that ...well read this: COOKIES. Take your pick; I got chocolate chip, peanut butter, sugar, and caramel/cocoanut. :D


	7. Cyan

**The Island of Narid **

**Chapter 7: Cyan**

Still don't own FMA…

ee! But it's thunderstorming out (not a word but oh well) and that always gets me into a creative mood! So I am happy

-meaf- ((my happy word))

* * *

The bright, cyan lights were blinding in contrast to the vast darkness where they walked. Besides the dappled glow all their eyes could digest was each other's silhouette, stepping slowly into the cavern's depths. Their fear caused them both to hallucinate, falling for unreal figures dancing in the shadows. And so they held each other's arm; both for strength and reassurance. 

The two women, all but shadowy disturbances in the cave's magnificence, neither looked behind nor to the sides. Their faces were set ahead in unmatchable determination. And with each pulse of the blue walls that surrounded them, they would breathe with, as if one.

Inside one of the girl's palm was clutched a small glass-like shard—taking on the same hue as the stones surrounding, beating within the same heart. She felt its gentle rise and fall within her fingers and for a moment it was like she was clasping the very ebb of the sea. That sense wasn't all that was lost. It seemed they had forgotten themselves, who they were, what they were named, where they were. They were only aware of the bright light, the seawater in one's hand, and each other's own fingers, intertwined and held, lest they forget each other as well.

The first low rumble of the earth was felt by the one holding the crystal-water, and she stopped for a moment, afraid. But the other beside her gripped tighter, more confident. The sea-woman breathed deep and long before managing to place a foot before her other and begin walking again. She knew not why she feared this place; she only knew that involuntarily her body yearned to leave and that her skin pricked with apprehension the further she stepped.

Confidence and Sea-woman continued down the churning, twisted path of the cave. Never did it slim, or shorten, everything was the same, and so they forgot where they even were. The chiming of their sandaled feet on the thin water-covered rock was at first comforting, but soon they found the sound unbearable and they were forced to take them off and continue with only the soft splash of water against their bare soles.

The thrash of the earth grew furious, rocking them off-balance as they staggered onward. More than once they fell, dampening once more their thin nightgowns. The air was cold here, and the cloth around their bodies seemed no more warming that a feathery draft of air.

When the earth rumbled more violently, Confidence was forced to wrap her arms about Sea-woman to keep her from falling and bruising herself. Blindly, Sea-woman clung to Confidence in the same way and in synch they put an unsteady foot forward, one at a time, slowly, tentatively. In this manner they continued, for what original reason their minds could no longer grasp. What came to their lost minds instead was a strangling fear that pushed them onward, as if they thought that behind them the wall closed when they walked. So they walked doggedly on, unceasing.

A violent tremor threw the two girls up against a wall. An end, at last. Forgetting even each other they released their hold and threw themselves at the wall, hands groping for anything, anything at all.

For, by now, their minds were washed, empty. They did not realize that there was a way back. They only saw the luminous blue wall before them, trapping them, suffocating them.

And then, when she fell helpless, not knowing how to cry, Sea-woman closed her eyes in defeat, but not before glimpsing, in the midst of all the blue, shadows moving. And when Confidence collapsed next to her she lashed her arm out, grabbing the girl tightly. Her eyes were wide open now and she gazed through the blue to what lay beyond, at once fighting the sudden pain that was her memory.

* * *

Hierra's eyes opened slightly. She yawned, and turned over, about to fall back into slumber. But then she gasped, and shot up from her covers. Rose, who she had been currently next to, was gone. Looking outside, though, she thought she saw a silhouette of a single figure, tall. The person's thick hair waved slightly in the soft night wind, shining in the reflection of moonlight. 

Hierra, content and no longer fearing for Rose, crawled silently over the blankets and the sleeping bodies that lay underneath, and drowsily curled in the blankets near Edward, who slept soundly. He hadn't even noticed her come over.

Outside, the silhouette stood facing the moonlight for a moment before quietly and slowly walking out to sea.

* * *

Well, super short chapter! And a kind of pathetic one. But I wanted to get that done, I do suppose. 

I'm being bribed with gifts! Non-existent gifts from a non-fat, old, or existent Santa Clause:D YAY Al-Kitty plushy!

Hmm…but this is a SUPER short chapter, I mean pathetically short. …..

Oh well. –wink-


	8. Hierra's Secret

**The Island of Narid**

Chapter Eight: Hierra's Secret

If I DID own FMA, the series would have more of Rose--So no, I do not own FMA.

But I am still quite content, sitting here with good company, pancakes, and a llama named Larry!

* * *

Ok here's the deal my readers, I'm going to try a schedule for you: a chapter every two weeks (this is basically to make sure I write ;) ) 

The two women, Rose and Winry, still lying in the shallow cavern, were pressed against one another, gazing through the vast blue cyan stones. And they saw people. And they remembered themselves in their appearance.

However, what they saw terrified them. Many people that matched Rose and Hierra exactly in appearance: dark, dusky skin, thick, long hair, they saw. There were many that were elderly, being roughly shoved forward by men youths. Some of the elders were bound in thick, dull chains, around their arms, neck, and waist. In lines they shuffled forward, pain expressed openly on their withered faces.

Beside them, treated none less harshly, maybe more, a long line of small children, from infants up to Hierra's age, and a few older stumbled as they were forced forward. Their faces were bleak, some were crying, but most of them seemed oblivious. Their cheeks were flushed, and they were constantly falling over another. The young boys and men who were stripped of their shirts revealed how painfully starved they all were. Ribs protruded from their skin and each breath seemed tight and strained against their bones. On all of their foreheads, there was a burned brand; however, the two girls could not make it out, for their skin was covered in a layer of thick grime.

The able-bodied youths who ushered those along held in their hand a crude whip of sorts, that when smote on the people's skin would tear through and the victim would bleed severely. The floor was slick with the blood.

Rose covered her eyes, hiding her head in her arms. Her breathing became unsteady when tears fell from her eyes, spilling silently over their lids. Winry slowly, and being as quiet as was humanly possible, caught ahold of Rose's shoulders and helped the girl to her feet.

"Close your eyes." She whispered—though soft her voice resounded in the cavernous hall. They were going to feel their way back, now afraid of the blinding blue light. Both of them, trembling in fear and cold, locked hands and stretched out so the other palm would trail along the wall. And then, with their eyes tightly shut, they ran. Often they would stumble—the ground beneath them still shuddered and quacked—but they sloshed forward, encouraged only by terror.

When their thin legs threatened to collapse underneath them, and when every breath became a sharp pain in their chests, Rose and Winry slowed, walking. The walls around them were rougher. It was not all smooth crystal anymore.

And then the earth gave way beneath their feet. Winry fell first, tripping in the sudden presence of deep water. Finally opening her eyes, Rose helped her friend back up to the cave's entrance.

Rose looked down at her hand and the crystal that lay upon it. She shuddered, remembering the horrid sight she beheld of the torture of people through its glow. Still weeping she brought her arm back and swung it wildly forward. The stone loosed from her hand and sailed over the ocean until it dropped, barely creating a splash. Winry said nothing.

* * *

"Rawse! Rawse puyawé! Ana shtva!" 

Rose's violet eyes opened slowly, painfully. She saw Hierra cheerfully bobbing in front of her. She attempted a faint smile. Beside her, Winry was starting to wake.

"You guys are up late!" Alphonse said, peeking in the shed to see what Hierra was doing.

Winry yawned, "We didn't sleep very well. What has everybody been doing?"

"They're all off in search of food. I was supposed to fish and watch Hierra. How are you both feeling?" He observed that Winry's cheeks were both pale and flushed.

Rose nodded, implying that she felt fine. She rose and followed Hierra outside, who giggled happily in the late morning sun.

Winry stood up as well, waving Alphonse aside with her cheery smile. "I'm fine. I'll be out in a second." After running a comb through her blonde hair she stepped out of the shack, her stomach clenching with hunger. She saw Rose sitting on the beach leisurely, but when their eyes met she could see Rose's shakiness, still present from the night before. Winry sat next to the dusky-skinned girl, arms held tight about her waist in attempt to quiet the moans of her hunger.

"Alphonse!" She yelled to the boy. "Do we have anything to eat now? Anything left?"

Al shook his head.

Winry sighed, her lower lip overhanging in a pout. Rose beside her slumped, obviously also downcast. She could expect Rose had been hoping for at least something left over from the last few days. They were both growing thin and wispy.

Hierra jumped up suddenly, grabbing Rose's arm firmly. "Rawse sii tu thanampk!" When Rose didn't respond right away the girl hopped up and down and waved a hand excitedly toward the ocean. "Thanampk!"

"You can't swim now, Hierra. You'll scare all the fish." Winry said, her voice weaker than before. She swallowed. "And we need the food."

"Thanampk!"

Rose swung herself upright. She looked at Hierra and nodded, smiling. She raised her arm and directed to the far left, a distance away from the boy who sat on the opposite end, fishing. Hierra squealed in delight and began lifting her arms up, wrestling with her dress.

Winry called back to Rose, who was sitting in the shack, undoubtedly changing into her swimpiece. "Do we have anything Hierra could wear?"

The response she received was a small tank top and shorts being flung from the shelter. Winry retrieved them. She recognized the shirt—it was one of her own, that she knew Rose hated, for it clung to Winry's body tightly, showing some skin. Rose had never got accustomed to the way women wore clothes outside her desert home.

"You're hilarious, Rose." Winry commented flatly. Yet she didn't argue. She helped the young Hierra to dispose of her dress, behind a tree. The shorts were large for Hierra, but that problem was easily remedied by tying a rope about their waist. The small top fit the girl rather well; however, and Winry found herself chuckling.

When they walked back to the beach, Rose was waiting for them, dressed in her one-piece. A towel hung around her neck.

Hierra and Rose walked toward the spot they selected before. Winry stayed behind, with Al. She felt too weary at the moment to join them in their swim. So instead she sat on the warm beach, keeping Kitty company and talking with Alphonse.

But when many minutes passed, she had begun to feel drowsy and her head throbbed, her throat had begun to sting with each swallow.

"Winry? Are you all right?" Alphonse questioned. His voice betrayed worry. "You haven't been answering me in a while."

"Sorry. I'm just a little distracted."

"Rawse thanampk a tushnia." Hierra giggled, and then dove underneath the water's smooth surface. Rose was shocked: Hierra was a superb swimmer, better than her by far. Hierra's body wiggled in between the currents like a little silverfin. Rose found herself unable to keep up.

And then Hierra ducked under once more, returning up right in front of Rose, grinning. Her hair had been washed away from her face, and Rose saw something that had always been hidden by the girl's thick bangs.

Etched charcoal black upon her dusky brow was a twisting branded burn, the shape of a churning vine charred with fire and wilting, dying. Rose furrowed her eyes, pointing a slim finger at the mark, perplexed. Was it the same mark the victims in the cave wore?

Hierra flinched away then, and slapped a hand over her forehead, shielding her marked skin. She ducked back into the water, and replaced her bare head with a wave of wet brown hair. Then the small girl shot up and ran out of the water onto the sand. She looked terrified.

Slowly, Rose crept out of the ocean herself, walking to Hierra. She was wrapped in a ball, weeping. Rose knelt next to her, placing a comforting arm around her shoulders. When Rose leaned forward to wipe the hair from Hierra's face so she could see the burn, the girl slapped the back of her palm violently, shuddering. Rose dropped her hand abruptly.

With a sigh, Rose wrapped her wet arms around Hierra and hoisted her up, walking back to camp. When she shack was within sight, Rose increased her pace dramatically. Most everyone was back, and gathered in a tight bunch. Alphonse was out of the water.

When she reached them, Rose gently laid Hierra on the sand and walked toward the clustered group. She pushed her way through to find Edward helping Winry to her feet; one of her pearly-skinned arms draped about his shoulder. Her complexion was sickly pale, the skin around her eyes dark and baggy. She was caught in a cold sweat.

Rose covered her mouth with her hands. Winry was sick—no doubt caused by the night before. Why did she ask Winry to join her? She backed slowly away, not wanting to look at the desperate, worried face of Edward, gently helping the sick girl walk forward.

Walk forward…

Edward tenderly laid the blonde-haired girl on a dry towel on the sand. They were talking to each other, and the others gathered, speaking more. But Rose did not hear. Out here, there was no medicine. Out here, there were no doctors.

No one paid attention to her return, so no one paid attention when she, Hierra, and Kit silently took leave. Hierra needed to get a way for a while, too, she believed.

They went to the waterfall, now covered with a new green carpet. She and Hierra lay beside the pool, rubbing the smooth, creamy fur of Kitty, and enjoying the feel of soft grass. They found little clovers sprouting among the new shoots and plucked them from the earth, nibbling, but the plants only sparked the girls' hunger with their sour taste.

"Tiné kulst, Rawse." Hierra murmured softly after a moment of quiet.

Though she did not understand her words, Rose recognized the girl's tone and smiled dimly, hoping to tell the girl nothing was wrong.

* * *

"A fever." Maria said at last, her tone low. 

They were all knelt around Winry's sick form. Maria wiped the perspiration from Winry's forehead and sighed. "I don't know what we can do besides wait it out and hope that it doesn't grow worse."

Riza came forward with a flask of warm water from the falls and held Winry's head up while dribbling the water into the girl's pale mouth. When the flask was emptied, she stood paces away and instructed the others to do the same.

The hours passed slowly by, and always somebody sat next to Winry, speaking to her. Edward and Alphonse were most by her side.

Dusk slid past; no one realized Rose and Hierra were still gone.

* * *

Hierra screamed. Her eyes saw nothing. A thick cloth was wrapped around them, part of it stuffed in her mouth but still she shrieked. Her arms were extended behind her around the thick bark of a tree, bound together. Her wrists chafed against the coarse rope that held them pressed close. She heard only the fall of water beside her, and nothing more.

* * *

Well I know things keep rolling without rest in this story…sorry. 

Hm……..I think that's it for now.


	9. Captive

**The Island of Narid**

**Chapter 9: Captive**

Drip. Drip. Drip.

She slowly came back into consciousness.

Drip…

Her arms were bound together, hung above her head. Her near naked body was pressed against the cold, damp wall with only a light, papery dress clothing her skin.

Drip. Drip.

She shivered, but moved no more. Her head was hung; a curtain of thick, mussed hair hung heavily about her face, brushing against her chilled flesh.

* * *

_"Rawse!" Hierra screamed, kicking furiously against the strong, hard arms that held her to a tawny young woman._

_Rose couldn't cry out the small girl's name. She could only try and scramble towards her, avoiding another capturer. The raiders leapt out of the woods when she and Hierra dozed off by the water's edge._

_The capturer, a tall woman with dark tan skin and long, brown hair stood above Rose, coming closer with slow, steady steps._

_"Niu pahaa stväkh?" The lady asked smugly, in the language Hierra spoke. She suddenly jerked forward, wrenching a hold on Rose's hair and hoisted her up. She brushed roughly aside the loose silk strands of hair and gazed at the homunculi mark set into her dusky skin. Then a horrible dry laugh escaped the woman's throat and she dropped Rose to the ground._

_Rose immediately stumbled to her feet. She started towards Hierra with tears of fear dampening the corners of her eyes. Her movement was harshly halted by an iron grip on her arm. She looked up, and saw the curly-haired boy, who in a flash became the man with wild black hair and revealing black clothing from her dream: a homunculus. He grinned at her—his eyes narrowed and dangerous._

_"Remember me?"_

_Then Rose saw the others follow, more hollow bodies; the two women, the boy, the heavy-set man. The first woman, with hair wavy and the color of ebony, stepped forward suddenly with a look of mild surprise._

_"What is it, Lust?" The large man inquired. It was the first time Rose had heard his voice. It was hoarse and high—nearly _inhuman.

_Lust, as the lady was called, recovered the calm look to her face. Her lips spread into a slight grin. "You were that whiny follower of Cornello, some time ago, weren't you?"_

_Rose flinched, breaking into a cold, clammy sweat._

_The ivory-skinned woman continued, "She was the one Fullmetal and his brother hung on."_

_The face of the shape changer abruptly soured. Through clenched, gritted teeth he growled with a hateful smile, "That makes this oh-so-much sweeter."_

_Rose held her arms tight to her chest, cringing away, but the homunculus before her reached out and held her still. Freely flowing down her cheeks were salty, colorless tears._

_The one called Lust lifted one dainty gloved hand, but as her fingers rose they stretched abnormally. Rose opened her mouth in a silent shriek and fought the wild-haired man frantically. The woman's fingers slit to a stop underneath Rose's chin. She could feel the sharp point of her nails threateningly rub against the shuddering flesh of her neck. Tears cascaded over the dark glove._

_Lust's face was devoid of any glum humor now. It was stern, suspicious. In her low, pulsing voice she said, contemplating, "I think _she_ has even specified for this wench. How lucky."_

_"You mean…" The large man began, his pupilless blank eyes staring up at Lust with a kind of drawn-up apprehensive expression._

_"Vatnak Tébusht Kap a Bloch treena?" The islander questioned, her voice strained in annoyance._

_The one holding Rose turned his head toward her. "Twestkin pore käp a tvé hokunav."_

_The woman nodded._

_Rose suddenly started, noticing a silence that should not be. Whipping her head around, as far as she was able in a man's hold, she saw Hierra hanging limp in another woman's arms. This one was still a native, but seemed no older than Rose herself._

_Rose flailed against the shape shifter's arms, but he only strengthened his grip, and slapped her hard across the face._

_The tall and older local walked over to Hierra, who stood with her head drooped._

_"Putokma vash?" She asked the one who held Hierra. _

_"Kuonesti. Ta voho." She lifted the head of Hierra. Her eyes were closed contently, and she rested completely on the hand of her capturer, as if asleep._

_The older woman wiped Hierra's thick bangs from her eyes, saw the dark, charred brand and laughed, that dry, heartless cackle._

_"Pwi karazh tomoné."_

_"Vernutske…"_

_"So do we wait for them to finish with the child?" Lust inquired, ripping Rose's attention back the homunculi._

_"Ask her yourself." The wild-haired man replied flatly._

_Lust turned toward the two islanders and asked, in their tongue._

_Rose quaked where she stood, felt her knees get suddenly weak and numb. Choked with tears and fear, Rose's breath grew short and strained. When she was very young, she had always thought that when a person was truly terrified, they would see their life flicker before their very eyes, and that they would pine for those moments that would soon be robbed from their memory. She thought then, that those with the sudden realization that they _had_ to live, would find some supernatural, concealed strength and desire that would burst through their veins and spread through their mind and muscles, compelling some heroic, prowess-filled action._

_But as she stood there, Rose did not see memories of her past. She was not caught in a fit of longing. She had no strength—her mind was an empty vortex, devoid of any breadth of thought._

_"Wrath, get the drug from Solkéra."_

_The small boy with the wild edge to his eye shrugged, waltzing over toward the tall woman from the island. In her foreign tongue he spoke some, and in return she handed him a small wooden vial. It was given to the one who held Rose._

_Rose, still struck petrified with white horror, found she couldn't make her body move. She stood with her mouth half-open and her eyes wide and unseeing. However, she felt the fingers touch over her eye with a powdery salve, then the other._

_Her eyes felt heavy as lead then, and without her mind's consent, her eyelids drooped and covered her sight. The tears stopped, and her breath eased. The words the homunculi spoke faded and she felt herself slowly tip forward and fall slumped into another's arms._

* * *

Drip. Drip.

She still felt tired and heavy. Her head hung numb and she found that just opening and closing her eyes took a painful effort.

The click of a door resounded in the empty chamber. She could not lift her head, but she heard the door squeak as it swung open, and she heard the click of shoes as a figure slowly made its way toward her.

The footsteps stopped. Then, on her cheek, she felt a hand strike. Rose gasped, but could not move.

"Bilinaw." Came a murmur.

Another set of footsteps.

Rose felt hands clasp her own and fondle with her chains. A click, and then her seemingly lead-filled hands dropped to her sides and onto the floor. The visitors wrapped an arm each under her shoulders and heaved her roughly to her feet. They pushed her forward. Rose tried her best to put a foot ahead, but she was still to weary. They shoved her again and she stumbled, sending shocks of pain through her legs. She winced, and then set her jaw, concentrating on only the task of walking. Stone floor passed beneath her feet—it was all her eyes could grasp. She often tripped over her shift, though it was light and thin, and was wrenched forward. She felt as if their fingers were bruising her arms.

Then suddenly the floor beneath Rose's eyes stopped blurring together. They had stopped. Feeling had returned mostly to her legs and she could feel her limbs grow lighter. She was able to lift her head; they were before a large, stone door.

When the door was pushed open Rose felt her messy hair blow away from her face in an immense wave of heat. There was a gigantic fire blazing in the corner of the austere room. The hands holding her arms were suddenly slick. The two people who held her heaved her in and sat her in a hard stone chair. Chains were fastened around her chest to make sure her body would not slump forward. Her arms were bound again behind its back. One of the island men who brought her to this room moved away from her and toward the magnificent fire. His lean muscled arm pulled a rod of bright crimson. At its end, the rod twisted into a shape—the shape of a churning, convulsing vine. The same mark that charred Hierra's forehead.

She was to be branded.

Rose began lashing her head back and forth when her mind digested the information. She was making herself sick and dizzy, but she did not care. The other man next to her lashed his hands out and held her head still. The man with the hot iron brand came closer. Her bangs were held back from her forehead.

Then came the searing pain. Rose's eyes clenched shut tightly and her mouth stretched open in a soundless scream of agony. The brand pressed into her skin, burning. In a flash, the hot iron was taken away and back into the red glowing coals, but the pain did not subside. Once the man took his hands from her face she rocked in the chair, whipping her head round in attempt to relieve the pain, not realizing the sides of her face were hitting the stone with painful force.

When her spasms ceased, her chest and hands were unbound and she was plucked from the chair like a dead weight and dragged back into her cold, damp, dark room that dripped, dripped….

* * *

Bwaha! I made it in my two week schedule! squee!

Sorry if the italics hurt your eyes…………….


	10. Sera Chto

**The Island of Narid**

**Chapter 10: "Sera Chto"**

Still don't own FMA….

HAH! made it WAY before my 2 week period was up!

* * *

"How is she?" Edward pulled back a curtain of towels to enter the shack.

Alphonse was kneeling beside a sleeping pale figure. "I don't know, brother." He said, voice betraying worry. "She hasn't woken up since yesterday."

Ed looked at Winry, eyes narrowed and expression firm. He said nothing, nor gave away his mood, but Al had expected as much. Even in his younger days, Ed would hide his feelings, stash them away; whenever Winry would fall, scrape her wrists and cry, Edward would stand to the side while Al would murmur comforting words to the girl.

"Edward." Riza's voice said sternly from outside. And despite the lieutenant's calm demeanor, there was a pang of slight apprehension.

"Keep a watch over her." Edward said softly before exiting. Hawkeye met him outside.

"Have you seen Rose?" She inquired.

Edward distractedly shook his head, eyes still fixed on the steel shack where his friend lay ill.

"She's been gone since yesterday." Riza pressed, attempting to find his straying attention.

"Rose went swimming with Hierra yesterday—I think they went on a walk." Came the boyish voice of Alphonse from within.

"For the night?" Riza exclaimed, momentarily dissuaded from her normal coolness.

"Alone?" Roy intruded into the conversation.

Edward waved them aside, "She had Hierra—with—" His voice caught when Riza's glare finally made its meaning. He cursed. After a moment of hesitation he said, "I'm sure they'll be fine—Hierra's not—"

"You agreed to keep watch on her. And weren't you the one who whined and protested vehemently when Mrs. Izumi brought home the child she had found?"

Wrath. Ed's mouth snapped shut. He turned briskly away. "Send somebody else."

"Edward." Hawkeye said firmly, demanding. She knew what he thought.

Heaving a groan Ed walked away into the forest. In truth, it wasn't _just_ Winry's condition that wanted him to stay. If something _had_ happened to Rose, he knew he wouldn't provide much comfort. It was why he was labeled "standoffish" once and a while—it's only because he loathed feeling guilty for someone else's hurt, even if he wasn't responsible. He couldn't bring himself to reach out and help. He left that to his brother.

With each step forward, his dread and apprehension heightened. The more his mind pondered over what the lieutenant said the more he realized the similarities between Wrath and this Hierra girl. Both, just appearing—on an island no less—latching on to somebody, gaining trust. In this case it had been he and Rose, not his old teacher and guide, Izumi. _He_ had fallen into the snare the second time the trick came around. The homunculi could have repeated what happened to Wrath, now only using Hierra as the baited hook.

Edward checked himself then, realizing his pace and quickened dramatically and his heart pulsed violently. He shook his head, attempting to rid his mind of its imagined traps that lay ahead, or what he would find when—_if_ he found Rose and the girl.

The dappled sunlight shifted as it fell hot on Ed's shoulders. The trees were thinning overhead, and the scrub plants were shortening, new shoots, and a few charred remains of some older form. His feet had led him without thinking to the place that harbored a clear pool and a small waterfall. The faint rush of water echoed in his ears.

Then another sound was heard: a light, small squeak. Edward stopped, straining his ears to catch the noise once more. It came to him louder, and he now recognized its source.

"Kit?" The cat yowled on, her voice droning in a lonely howl. She seemed afraid and frantic so he sat on the forest floor, gently calling her closer.

Eventually Kitty came to recognize him. She came to his hand but wouldn't let him pet her—she would skimmer away. His heart hammered harder in his chest; what would cause the kitten to become so frightened? Why wasn't Rose with her?

Ed hurried on, letting Kit follow if she wished. The waterfall was in sight now. He approached it and cupped his hands in its cold waters, lifting them to his lips and draining the water down his tight throat. It had clenched from a worry he could not explain.

A high series of muffled cries was suddenly heard. Ed's head whipped about him, for it was a voice he knew. Hierra.

"Hierra?" He called. Though his attempt was to sound calm and nonchalant, he found his timbre had gone low with reproach. Her cries came again and he followed them. As he could hear the girl more clearly, he found her screams were true fear, something that couldn't be mimicked.

"Hierra?" His voice softened involuntarily when she began crying.

Then Edward saw her. He rushed forward, finding her arms held bound against the tree, chafing against the rough texture. Her mouth was covered and stuffed with dirty cloth. Another covered her eyes.

With shaking, feverish fingers Edward ripped the binds from Hierra. She fell away from the tree, stiff and weary. Ed caught her shoulders as she slumped forward, and held her up.

"Ed! Ed!" She screamed, weeping uncontrollably.

The boy was too fretful to feel guilty of accusing the girl. "Hierra, where is Rose?"

"Rawse! Pwi katar! Katar plé shvii!"

"Where—is—Rose?" He said slowly, shaking her shoulders slightly.

"Ed…" The girl's crying became more subdued and her head lolled backward and her eyelids slipped shut in an exhausted and weary sleep. Her throat was torn from shrieking the night long.

Edward felt his heart lurch. He could not describe the emotion he felt now; the fear, the worry, in such an extremity he had never realized laid dormant inside. He tried to work his troubled mind to recompose itself, but it would not obey; it kept treating him to sick illusions and trickeries.

* * *

A slight and surprisingly tender hand brushed by her face. Rose opened her eyes and lifted her head. Her temples throbbed painfully and her back ached sorely. Her arms and legs were cramped and burning from sitting uncomfortably without room for change. Dimly before her, blurred and spinning, stood a tall woman in an ebony garb. But her skin was pale ivory white compared to her own. When her visitor crouched, Rose recognized the divine, angelic face that twisted smugly into mockery. It was the homunculus woman, Lust.

Rose gasped, shying away, pressing her cold body to the stone wall.

"I don't remember your name but I do recall the blind follower of Cornello, whining for, longing for the fake priest to resurrect her dead lover. Yes, he told me. And you were also Fullmetal's _pet_ when he visited your pathetic town, weren't you?"

Rose could hardly breathe. Her eyes were wide in sick fear and she could barely move.

"Answer me." She demanded, fierce then. Her gloved fingers inhumanly stretched and threateningly pricked her dusky flesh. "So what's your name?"

Rose swallowed hard, felt the sharp points soring her skin. She opened her mouth, but she knew no sound would come forth.

Lust bent closer to her face; her words were breathed in a hiss. "What's the matter? Can't you speak?"

The door of her dark room clicked open and in a flash Lust was away from her, turned toward the man who appeared in the doorway. Tall and lanky he was, with dark wispy hair and skin like Rose's own. His eyes were dark-rimmed and he looked doleful. In the next instant, he looked at Rose and attempted a smile, though she knew it betrayed sadness. He was in his middle years.

"Bakahop téno?" He asked, his voice slightly monotonic.

"Shi." Lust answered. "Kar gothnu békno."

The man gasped and looked toward Rose with widened eyes before clasping his hands quickly and fretfully across them. He trembled.

"Noko zherto! Pwilu zherto! Kye!" He screamed, turning around and making for the exit. But Lust caught his shoulder and he let out a frightened cry. She turned him around and stood him against the wall.

She turned to Rose. "Do you know what you are to these people, wench?"

Rose's eyes were frozen on the man clearly terrified of her. She didn't look at Lust or show any sign that she heard.

Lust gave a breathy scoff and turned toward the man. "Kanazhno. Tekya."

Quivering, the man drew near to Rose, but he would not look her in the eye. He reached up to where her arms were bound, and in a few minutes Rose's arms fell back by her sides, heavy and weary. The man ever-so-gently took one of Rose's dusky arms and slung it around his shoulder, lifting her to her feet. With Lust leading, the three walked out of the cell.

There were a number of steel walled passageways that were dank and narrow before the walls fell away. Rose started upon seeing millions of bodies clustered in the enormously wide chamber. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder with their faces upturned toward the raised dais she was upon. The man helping her shuddered, but stood firm under Lust's watchful gaze.

The walls around them were intricately embellished with gold and bronze, curving and twisting into the shape of a man, or a woman, child, or animal. They all reached upwards, clambering over each other, desperately seeking something above, and their longing faces set in the golden carvings. At the far end of the chamber, towering superiorly over the millions of bodies stood grandly an otherworldly man, cloaked in a flowing tunic. Set on his brow was an elegant crown and in his hand a grand, magnificent scepter was held. His shrine shown brightly as the sun and the blue stones surrounded and accented his every feature. The room's walls were made of the dim cyan gems, lighting the room with an eerie glow.

But the statue of the glowing man seized all Rose's attention. The same statue, with only miniscule corrections, lay in her old town, Lior. It was Leto, her Sun God!

The people abruptly began changing in unison, in one whispering soft voice poured with complete admiration.

"_Chana bella karshti tévo._

_Terras bwifo rallie kor._

_Sera wo, Sera chto…"_

Again a spark of recognition lit in the back of Rose's mind. Some of those words, some of those phrases she remembered. They were old prayers that were repeated in her own temple in Lior. However, before Rose could continue on the thought, the man holding her walked forward, bringing her up the dais to stand before all the people. Rose's blood ran cold and her skin grew slick with chilled sweat.

When the chanting ceased, their faces fell away from her, looking down. Their arms were raised above their heads in synch then, before bowing low, dusting the backside of the person in front of them with their fingers. Only then did she realize the man who supported her fell away and came to his knees, paying her homage. Rose swayed a bit, but regained her balance and stood shocked and bewildered—the only one standing.

There was a silence. A long, austere, soundless passage where they bowed before her. Then the click of shoes sounded on the far side of the raised platform. The second homunculus woman, straight-haired, walked toward her with a small wooden bowl. Its contents burned with a dark red-orange glow. It steamed.

The woman stopped behind Rose. The homunculus's arms were raised above both of their heads, and without warning, the searing liquid tumbled from the chalice, cascading down Rose's face with a painful sensation. Rose, unable to scream, was rooted to the stone beneath her sandaled feet. Her body trembled under the immense heat. She felt the thick liquid drip over her skin, burning, paralyzing her with pain.

_"Sera chto."_ The crowd chanted.

Also from the right of the dais, a group of people came forward, each held by a homunculus. She recognized some: the woman who had held Hierra, her own capturer, and two men she thought branded her. Only her eyes looked their way; her body was still in shock.

Before her the natives were brought. The homunculi each held in their hand a dark silver dirk, crowned in gold and the glowing stones.

"Bartet." The homunculi whispered in perfect unison to the people they held. The locals opened their mouths. Rose gasped then, seeing the kind-faced but terrified man who held her before in the line with them. The homunculi, with their dirks, brought their hands toward the others' lips, and with a quick jerk of their arms, slit the tongues of the natives.

They choked on their blood, some doubled over. The lady behind Rose ran forward and caught their blood in her chalice as they battled against the pain. After she had filled the wooden cup with drops of their life, she turned toward the still petrified girl.

Rose felt the woman force the chalice to her lips, tipped it forward. She tasted the thick draught with disgust. She felt her own body gag and lean, but Lust came and held her upright. Her mind was kept paralyzed, held in a glaze. Their blood slipped down her throat and the lady massaged her neck, forcing her to swallow.

Tears cascaded softly over Rose's dark cheeks. She felt dirty, vile. _She drank another's blood._

_"Sera chto, Sera chto…"_


	11. When Bloch Becomes a Hero

**The Island of Narid**

**Chapter 11: When Bloch Becomes a Hero **

Still don't own FMA………..

….

Schoolwork is DEFINITELY cutting into my writing… :cries:

:ahem: This chapter is ….yeah, Not my best…

And at least I'm in the weekend of this week, eh?

:gets clobbered by hardcore fans (if there are any):

* * *

"Edward, calm down!" 

"Calm down? Winry's sick, Rose is _gone_, and Armstrong has been trying to kill Kit and Black Hayate for the last few weeks!" He struck the side of the shack with his arm furiously.

"…Feel the wrath of my beautiful muscles..!"

"And to top that all off, we're deserted on an island, the military hasn't sent for us yet, and we can barely muster up enough food to survive the hour!"

"Well it's no use complaining." Maria chided.

"Complaining?"

"Brother, please!" Alphonse cried, putting two hands on the young man's shoulders to quiet his spasms.

"Edward, I know you're worried, but you have to think about this rationally." Roy said calmly as he always did. "Odds are against us at the moment. The girl could be anywhere on this island—you can't expect us to simply rush out there for a rescue."

"I'm not asking you to!"

"And you're not going alone."

"Well then what do you propose we do, Mustang?" Edward spat, clearly miffed.

"Honestly, Ed, I don't know."

Edward groaned loudly and spun around, seeking out Hierra. She was standing many paces away with her hands by her chest, clasped tightly. She had never seen Ed angry before, and as he rushed toward her with his eyes flaming she winced away.

"Nonc Fowru. Taka Ed!" She screamed, twisting around. "Ama furu Rawse."

Heaving a great sigh, Edward closed his eyes and made an attempt to reign in his frustration. He knelt down beside her. "Hierra—I'm sorry." Though she didn't understand his words she recognized his tone and relaxed a little. "I need you to help me. To find Rose."

"Rawse?"

"If I remember correctly, Ed, weren't you whining about having to find Rose yesterday?"

"Shut up, Colonel. I don't need this."

"And we don't need you running off and endangering yourself. The chances of finding her now, a day or two after she was captured, or killed, or whatever the heck happened are way too slim."

"What are you saying?"

"You should worry about what's _here._ Rose is gone—we can't lose another. You need to focus on what's here, the living."

"Sorry, but I can't do that. You know as well as I that she _is_ alive. There's no way I'm just going to stand here."

"And there's no way we're going to let you risk your life. Not right now, at least."

Maria's voice broke in. She lectured in her maternal sort of way, "And you have to wait until your nerves cool. You can't expect to bring things in to order when your head is steaming."

Edward fell silent, staring at them in open-mouthed disbelief. His irritation and anger rose dramatically, but he found he had to keep his fury in check, in case Hierra would shy away. Attempting to blanken his red face, he whispered, rather harshly, "How can you all speak of this so calmly? How can you act as if her disappearance is not important?"

One by one, the faces around Edward fell to stare at the sandy ground at their feet.

"Edward." Riza started softly, "This kind of thing happens; quite a few cases have been reported to the military of this type of…disappearance. A person can only take so much. And Rose, she was a fragile girl to start with."

Edward's eyes narrowed.

"Having lost her parents, her faith, her lover, her hope, and then her home, Rose has suffered more than we can understand. And after coming with you on this trip, she has suffered no less. Her voice vanished and the homunculi have been with her. _Influenced_ her, maybe. Since she lost her voice we have not known what she was thinking, what could have been crossing her mind."

Ed's blood seethed in his veins. He hissed, "Rose is not that kind of person. She has never fully given up hope. She probably had even more hope of getting off this island than any one of us. She wouldn't break down, wouldn't quit, she would—"

"Walk forward?" Riza softened her tone. "Edward, _those are only words."_

* * *

Rose? She wouldn't have gone mad. It was _them_ who were mad. _Them._

"Are you still awake?"

Edward jumped, lifting his head from its gaze on the fire. It was Bloch—Bloch was talking! The man hadn't even been awake for at least an hour each day, and even then all he did was groan, and stumble around.

Bloch noticed the perplexion thickening Ed's expression and laughed lightly, with a small wink. "Yeah, I'm doing fine now. But I don't have to let anyone else notice. Yet anyway. Maria practically fawns over me all day. It's like a dream come true! Of course, my limp and my struggle in walking; that's not posed. I must have lain on that leg for what, a week?" He sat down.

The boy returned his eyes to the flames, not enlightened by Bloch's cheerful and good-humored words.

"Listen," Bloch whispered suddenly, his voice immediately solemn, "I don't even think they knew what they were saying back there. They just don't want you running all over this cursed island, killing yourself trying to find one girl. They can't afford to lose you if we all get rescued someday. You're much more valuable to the military than a simple village girl."

Bloch saw the flicker of annoyance that crossed Ed's face and quickly spoke again. "Hey, now, I know how you feel, but you're the 'Fullmetal Alchemist' and that makes all the difference. But anyways, there's nothing stopping you from finding out yourself what happened to your woman."

"_Excuse_ me?"

Bloch laughed again; amused by the way Edward suddenly became flustered. His suspicions were met.

Ed seemed to recover. "Now you aren't suggesting that you come with, right?"

"Oh, no. My limp would slow you down. But Hierra's determined not to let you go alone."

Hearing her name, the girl came forward into the firelight timidly. "Ed no schata porhuven. Ka Rawse…"

Bloch inclined his head as if to confirm an unspoken thought. He turned to Ed, "No dawdling now. Go."

It was Ed's turn to laugh. His heart felt much lighter. "Thanks."

"No problem."


	12. The City

**The Island of Narid**

**Chapter 12: The City**

Nope, don't own FMA,…..yet. BWAHAHA nah just kidding.

Sorry, I can't be serious all the time! -wink-

* * *

"Did you sleep well?" A sneering voice hissed.

Rose did not look up, knew the homunculi woman was there with the small boy. Her dark hair formed a curtain around her face, shadowing her surprisingly gentle features. Rose was no longer chained to a dark stone wall, but sitting on a grand bed of gold and silk. But she was miserable no less.

"Now don't be cold. You'll have to get used to us for now anyways. No others can speak our tongue."

The little wild-haired boy ran forward, clasping her arm and wrenching it forward. "Come play."

"You don't have to stay in this room—you're no prisoner. Don't you want to see the city?"

Rose raised her violet eyes then. Her hand reached up and pushed her pink bangs from her face. Very slightly, she nodded. Anything to get moving again. Maybe she could run if the chance came. They had said she was no captive, so there would be no problem in her leaving, right?

"Wrath, step out of the room for a moment."

"Yes, mommy." The boy sped out the door.

_'Mommy?'_ Rose had heard that the homunculi didn't have mothers, or friends. Why was this boy—

"You can call me Sloth if you feel like speaking." The woman turned gracefully around to one of the large wardrobes placed in the room. Wresting open the two doors she rummaged fro a moment before pulling out a wondrous gown of marvel. The dress itself was white; however, it seemed dusted with a layer of the glowing blue stones, giving the fabric a radiance unmatched by anything Rose had ever seen. The long, slender sleeves faded from white to dark silver. The same fade was present on the bottom hem of the dress. At its girth, the gown slimmed with a tie of silver.

"Put this on. You can't look like a normal townsperson."

Rose's eyes betrayed question, but Sloth didn't feel up to answering. She simply waltzed out of the room and shut the large door. Outside Rose could hear her voice conversing with the boy outside.

Sighing, Rose stripped the dress she had been wearing off herself and donned the blue-white gown. Its material was surprisingly light. Having lost her sandals, Rose stepped out of the room barefoot, eyes seeking Sloth. The woman was there, but looked at her disapprovingly.

"Don't you know how to take care of yourself?"

Rose narrowed her eyes. She knew very well how, she was forced to after all family left her. When Sloth came forward Rose turned from her and went back into the room. As long as she was here, she wouldn't let those _things_ wait on her. Slamming the door of the room Rose came to one of the dressers and dug through the drawers. There must be something. She came to one with a pearl comb. Finding a mirror in a corner of the room she struggled with her violent locks of hair. It lay matted on her head and refused to tame. Suddenly frustrated she tore at her hair with the comb until it fell straight over her shoulders. Looking at her reflection she wrinkled her brows and turned sharply away.

Then she stopped and stood for a while, calming herself. Why was she suddenly angry? Sighing, she realized that she had never felt so confused before, so lost. Many times in her life she had felt betrayed, but now there wasn't a soul she was even the slightest bit ready to trust. How would her friends find her if she couldn't even find herself? A flash of anger passed over her features once again. She always had depended on someone else for her rescue, deeming herself too clumsy to do anything of worth. Throwing her hair over her shoulder, she vowed to bring herself to escape this wretched place, this barbarian-like place by herself. Nothing was as it should be.

The door opened and Sloth walked inside. "Much better. Come now, you'll need no shoes." The woman took hold of her wrist and led her outside, where her boy followed.

Rose gazed at the hallways, at the paintings that lined their walls and found the similarities between them and the pictures in her own temple in Lior. Then her eyes landed on the boy, whose gaze was directly at her, as if _examining _her. Rose wrenched her own gaze aside, shaken. They still sickeningly frightened her, though she tried to be brave. Closing her eyes and steadying herself, she followed the two out the double-doored entrance of the building they were in.

Outside Rose found herself in a huge city, enclosed within a cave. The sky was simply rock with scattered blue stones. They were almost like stars. Dropping her gaze, Rose saw the city below them, houses made of rock and paths of the blue glow. Despite her hard resolution, it was beautiful. Realizing Sloth and the boy, Wrath, were walking down the many hundreds of steps that led to the city, Rose followed. The ground wasn't hard beneath her feet; it was as if walking on soft sand that never sank. Hesitantly, she continued.

Though her legs ached the more she went, she kept herself resolutely firm and didn't slow her pace. The others in front of her seemed to show no signs of fatigue.

At the bottom, their feet touched the smooth surface of the blue stone path. Lightly stepping on its surface they walked through the town. At first there were many people out, each garbed in a simple dress or shirt, but they murmured a quick prayer and fled from them. Rose looked around, hoping someone would be bold enough to stay so she could see them, who they were, but once she came close they would scramble away. What was this strange place?

"Welcome to the city," Sloth was saying, "the city of Bloch."

* * *

"Hierra, hurry up." Edward turned around to see the small girl lost in thought, standing still. She heard her name and obediently ran forward to him, as if wanting to understand what he meant. She seemed to understand the severity of the situation.

For many long hours they walked in silence, occasionally stopping to get a drink from a stream that trickled by. But they didn't stall. Edward was too upset to say anything more.

Splashing cool water on his face, Edward felt a small hand tug the sleeve of his coat. Turning around, he saw the small face of Hierra looking sadly up at him. She was crying.

"Hierra?"

"Ahurta kil stvak Rawse." Her voice cracked and she wiped the tears away from her eyes before continuing, louder and more panicked. "Rawse ka—Rawse. Rawse ka tawa Sera. Sera Chto. Sera Chto!"


	13. Illness

**The Island of Narid**

**Chapter 13: Illness**

Ho ho! I am right in my 2 week period, and this is my normal chapter length! (does a jig)

Here you are:

Oh, I don't own FMA

* * *

"Ed. . . where is Ed. . . ?" Winry choked out of her dry, cracked lips. Her face was flustered pale and her skin was clammy with cold sweat. Since early morning, she had done nothing but moan and clutch Al's hand tightly. Her fever reached a new, dangerous height. "Where is Rose?"

Alphonse, who was still loyally posted at her side, hesitated. Shakingly, he lied, "Ed is getting you some breakfast." He knew where his brother was, but it would be no use to worry the poor sick girl further. Especially on the matter of Rose. Winry had never been told that Rose was gone, and had been for a while.

"I. . . need to speak with Rose." Winry said softly; her muscles tensed as if she would try and sit.

"Don't get up! You're too weak still." The boy soothed softly, voice betraying worry.

The girl shook her head vehemently. "Rose!"

"She's not here. She went on a walk with Hierra, just relax. Please. You're scaring me." His voice became high and childish then, as if a sob was near to escaping him.

"It wasn't her fault." She murmured, quieter now, knowing not to frighten her friend. "Tell her."

Alphonse was quiet for a moment, knowing he might never see Rose again. "I will," he promised shakily. Though he was curious to know what Winry meant, he was far knowledgable enough to know that the message was simply for Rose alone to understand.

"How is she?" Riza pulled aside the fabric door and entered the shack.

"Horrible." Came the answer, not from Alphonse, but from Winry herself. "Since when did. . . fevers hurt this much?"

"Winry, I'm going to ask you to not talk for a while. We don't want you to get worse."

The girl bit her lip and cast her gaze aside in a characteristic pout.

Riza returned her face, at the moment emotionless, to Alphonse and said briskly, "Al, would you come outside for a moment?"

The boy's eyes strayed a second's time to Winry, then returned to the lieutenant. "Yeah." He followed the military woman out.

"Al, your brother—" Maria began when they walked over.

The boy addressed suddenly felt a frustrated annoyance well up. "I know where he went." He snapped shortly.

Mariet shook her head. "I would not doubt that. You, of all of us would know your brother's mind. That is not what we meant."

Riza stepped forward. "Do you want somebody to look for him?"

There was silence.

"No." The answer came softly. "If we try to bring him back, it'll only strengthen his resolution to keep going."

The women nodded.

When Alphonse returned to Winry, he found himself strangely silent. He had no wish even to comfort Winry with his words. How could he? He wasn't well himself.

"Al."

"Winry, you're not supposed to spea—"

"What is going on?" Whne the boy did not return her, she opened her eyes and forced her voice louder, though the action made her throat throb. "I know something's not right!" She paused between sentences. "I've known you. What's going on?"

"Winry, nothing—"

"No!"

Alphonse looked around quickly, making sure he saw nobody's shadow near the door. The voices heard were far away. "Rose and Hierra left on a walk some days ago. That was not a lie. But they had not returned—not together, at least. When Edward went looking, he found only Hierra. The girl was. . . tied to a tree. Gagged."

"And Rose?"

"No word since."

For a long while, within the shack the only noise heard was their own breathing, and the wind whistling past. Alphonse inwardly cringed. He knew he should not have let loose so much information. And yet, he knew, if Winry did recover, that he would feel most guilty when she found out the truth for herself. She would feel wronged.

"Do me a favor."

Al returned his gaze to Winry. It wasn't a question. Their eyes locked and Alphonse felt her strong will rise up inside them.

"There is. . . a cave."

"The one you had found many weeks ago?"

She nodded. Her eyes darted to a lavender sac by her side. "Second pocket—small one."

Alphonse obeyed the order without question. Reaching inside the small pouch, his hand met contact with only one object. It seemed small. Carefully, as he could not tell how fragile it was, Alphonse enclosed his palm and drew his hand away. When his fingers parted he saw a stone the size of a fingernail. Its color was a rich, yet delicate blue, soft and seemingly glowing with a faint light. He turned questioningly to Winry.

"A stone from that cave." She answered his unsaid inquiry. "It was filled. A night—Rose and I. We left and looked. We saw. . ." She shuddered in remembrance. "Something horrible."

"What?"

She avoided his word, "I shouldn't have taken it. Tonight—will you take it and throw it in? Back inside?"

"Winry, I can't—"

She shook her head, knowing what he objected about. "Then stand on the shore. And throw it. Hard. Throw it far away. I don't want it."

"Okay." For a brief moment he said nothing more. Then, "What did you see? You and Rose?"

"People. Like her. Like Hierra."

Alphonse knew she would not say more, and so nodded in solemnity.

* * *

When darkness fell upon the island and everyone had succumbed to the ruse of sleep, one boy, quiet as possible, inched past the sleeping forms on the sand. He was not tired, since there was no body about him to rejuvenate. So it was not difficult for him to rise quietly without clumsiness from where he had pretended to sleep. Taking a quick glance back at the others, and seeing that their positions barely shifted, he walked forward on the soft beach sand. He stopped just before his feet reached the gentle night tide.

Alphonse took, from one of the many pockets in his armor, the shining crystal out. In the darkness now, the light glew intensely. The boy marveled at it for a swift second before bringing his arm back, and thrusting it powerfully forward. The stone was released from his hand and drifted a while in the night sky before plunging and dropping into the cold ocean water.

* * *

"Sera Chto! Sera Chto!" Hierra cried, hanging to the trail of Edward's shirt in desperation. Floods of clear tears passed down her cheeks.

"Hierra. Hierra! Calm down!"

"Rawse plé Sera Chto! Ka thzrashni hesh!"

Edward grasped the girl firmly around her shoulders until she let go of his jacket. She still wept violently, and her breathing was irregular. Hierra cried out a coupld non-understandable words until Ed put a hand to her lips, quieting her.

"Do you know where Rose is?" He moved his hand aside to let the girl answer.

"Rawse plé Sera Chto! Havurtkna blofistr. . ." He covered again.

"Calm down." Ed said slowly. "What is" He fumbled over the words, "Sehrah Chtuh?"

Behind his hand Hierra began to talk again, her eyes wide. It was many minutes before she calmed once more. Edward's patience had thinned—the small screaming girl had not helped to ease his mood. Hierra had now stopped her crying and was sitting silently next to Edward, her eyes narrowed and her breathing slowly returning to normal.

The small girl's light voice broke the awkward air of silence. "Ed?"

He turned to her and nodded so she'd understand.

Hierra climbed to her feet and walked around his side so that she faced him. "Ed cör Rawse. Hierra cör Rawse salfya." Edward drew up his brows then, noting how serious her tone had become. He found himself feeling their places had suddenly reverted; as if he was the young child who needed to understand.

"Rawse plé Sera Chto. . . Ed fash klya tï Rawse fash Sera Chto." She spoke slowly, as if he would know what she meant. "Taka, Ed." She leaned forward and clasped his palms in her tiny ones and lifted them up. Ed got to his feet, but Hierra didn't let go. Instead, she nodded and released one hand for a brief moment to point through the trees. "Bloch."

"Bloch?" Ed said incredulously. He hadn't know they had conversed ever before.

Hierra nodded once before starting into a sudden run, dragging Edward behind her. He couldn't say that he understood what the girl meant, but it seemed she was determined and had Rose in mind.

* * *

"Colonel, lieutenant! Maria!" Alphonse cried joyously.

The sun was rising above the ocean, creating an unbearable glare that had woken everyone moments earlier. So they were already awake when Al came running toward them, his arms raised in the air.

"What is it?" Maria questioned, taken back by the sudden happiness that filled the boy's voice.

"It's Winry. She's getting better!"

As if cued, the blonde-haired girl waved the curtain by and stepped out into the morning sunlight. She looked still a tad pale, and undoubtedly fatigued, but she was standing, and on her face was plastered a genuine smile.

* * *

Yay there you go. I also baked another platter of cookies for my lovely reviewers. Whee! 


	14. The Entrance Into the City of Bloch

**The Island of Narid**

**Chapter 14: Entrance Into the City of Bloch**

I do not own FMA.

OHMIGOSH. PLEASE OH PLEASE ACCEPT MY ABSOLUTE SINCEREST OF APOLOGIES! I did NOT mean for this story to stall as it had. I was on vacation the weekend I was supposed to update, and since then everything has been chaos. This story actually slipped my mind and when I found it, I found a lot of difficulty in writing it again. So please, as I am warming up with this chapter, don't yell at me or anything. It was very hard to write. -- and it is very short, so I apologize for that too.

What do you want, pie? I have pie!

* * *

It was night. An exhausted pair lay against a thick trunk of a tree, their eyes closed. One of them drew a canteen to his lips and supped what was left of it. Beside him a young girl reached with her small, dark hand, and tore off a leaf from its stem. She squeezed it between her lips and chewed on it.

Edward turned to her, "What's that?"

"Nyini." The girl answered, understanding the question if not the words. "Bal'e ni slurl." She tore off another leaf from the large and spidery plant, handing it this time to Ed.

With a moment's hesitation, he, too, put it between his teeth and bit down. It snapped a little before a liquid, sour in taste, ran over his tongue. It wasn't the most delightful sensation, but it did seem to suddenly satiate his hunger and thirst.

"So, what was this?" He pointed to the green-blue leaf partway in his hand; the other half in his mouth.

"Nyini."

"Nyini?"

Hierra smiled and clapped her hands enthusiastically. She shot to her feet and packed some of the leaves into her pockets.

Ed realized that it was the first time he had even attempted a word in her language.

The girl spun around, wrapped her short fingers round a clump of grass and tore it from its roots. She then ran to Ed, beaming a precious smile.

"Larj." She said. When he didn't speak she repeated the word, "Larj."

"Larj."

Hierra giggled and thrust toward his face the water-leaves again. Her cheeks were flushed in excitement.

"Nyini." Ed said, stifling a smile and a small chuckle himself.

* * *

In the morning Ed had mastered a total of seven words: grass, the water-leaves, tree, rock, dirt, hair, and eyes. Though it was nice to relax a bit, he felt his mind drift back to a certain girl, one with long, dark hair, rose-colored bangs, and violet eyes.

Hierra evidently was less worried. She skipped around the tree she and Ed had slept against during the night before and she hummed a strange tune that was merry in its make.

"Hierra." Ed said, halting both the girl's song and her movements. She sat next to him.

"Dara?"

"We need to look for Rose again."

"Rawse . . . " Her eyes fell, and immediately she was sombered. "A Sera Chto."

Those two words again. Ed heard her repeat those often. "Hierra, what is Sera Chto?"

"Rawse vie a Sera Chto."

Ed drew up his eyebrows in confusion, still not understanding what she meant. But the girl said nothing more. Standing now, she took hold of Ed's arm and helped pull him to his feet.

Edward sighed, "How much longer do we need to go?" Hierra didn't answer, for he mentioned no word she was familiar with. He began walking for a bit until he realized Hierra was not following. Turning back around he questioned her with his eyes.

The girl's own sight was upon the earth beneath her fidgeting feet. There was a second's pause of uneasiness before Hierra looked up at his face and breathed large and deep. Then she jerked forward, urging into a run, with Edward forced to quicken his pace.

"Hierra?" He asked when he had fallen beside her in pace. The girl said nothing, only kept her eyes staring straight ahead in determined resolution. Ed had no choice but to follow.

The land was beginning to change. After a day of traveling through dense forest, Ed found himself a bit shocked when the sun's light suddenly pierced his back. There were no trees here, no plants. Under his feet, the ground abruptly smoothened to a dark stone, cool despite the sun's ruthless beams.

But what caught him the most unprepared was the small building-like structure before him. Its sides were carved all in the same stone, save for small spheres of blue crystalline, and it was hardly large enough for a man to pass through, width and heighth on all sides. Above the door there were carvings--letters, he thought. Approaching the door, he pointed to them.

"What's that?"

She didn't have to look up to answer. "Vinyesti ka Bloch.

Hierra squeezed herself between Edward and the door and wrapped her hands around the handle. Opening the door only slight way, Hierra poked her head around and peered inside. Swallowing she turned around and nodded to Ed, who followed her inside. When the door was shut, the whole tiny room was darkness. Although if he reached out his arm, he could touch the far wall with his elbow still creased.

Hierra suddenly grabbed his hand. She pulled him to the center of the building and whispered a quiet word. Then the sound of a lever being switched was heard and he felt the floor beneath him begin to shiver.

Looking down, Ed saw the outline of his boots silhouetted by a strange blue light. The light carved a circle in the black and shadowed surroundings. Then, with a slightly sickening feeling, the floor that gave off the blue light sunk in. Slowly downward it brought Edward and Hierra--the whole way wrought in darkness, save for the cyan light they stood upon.

When the floor stopped its descent, Ed heard Hierra slowly open the door. Only faint light spilled in; but compared to inside the walls of the tiny room, it was painfully bright. Squinting his eyes Edward slowly moved his head to look through the small opening and saw a narrow hallway, dark in its depths. Small blue glowing stones were set sparsely upon the wall's sides.

Hierra heaved a great breath then swung the door wide open. She stepped out and waited for Ed to do the same; her eyes constantly darting back and forth. Cautiously, he did so. Behind him Hierra pulled the inside lever and quickly shut the door to the small building with as little noise as she could manage. When she turned, her eyes were upon Ed's own, and her brows creased with obvious worry. It almost seemed as if she would start crying.

Edward returned his gaze to the long hallway and began to walk when Hierra grabbed his arm again and stopped him. She put her small hands over her eyes and repeated the gesture. Ed, perplexed, but knowing better than to just stand there, did the same. What didn't she want him to see?

Hierra's small arm locked around Edward's elbow then she began to lead him. Behind his hands Edward heard Hierra's tiny sniffles--she _was_ crying. Slowly, and hopefully unnoticeably, Edward peeked through his fingers. The walls weren't solid around him. They were barred windows, and looking through them, he saw many people of Hierra and Rose's appearance--some old, some young and frail. Each bore the mark Hierra had branded upon her forehead. And each looked at him in a mixture of hopelessness and sadness that made his heart jutter.

* * *

Rose, finally alone in her room, leapt upon her bed and buried her face it its covers. There she lay, weeping. Through her tears she narrowed her eyes and frowned in disgust at her own weakness. But she couldn't cease her crying. And she knew the woman Sloth and her boy were listening outside, laughing at her torture. Frustrated, she slammed her fist down on the bed and enclosed the blanket in her hand. She had resolved to escape this place herself, but how? Those _homunculi_ were always around her, and there was only one door in the room.

She remembered the faces of the townspeople as their eyes looked anywhere but at her. At her approach they all bowed their heads and halted whatever they were doing until she passed. It irked her to a point where she felt like slapping them across the cheek. But she did nothing.

And here she was, trapped in this room, crying.


	15. Sun Festival Pt 1

**The Island of Narid**

**Chapter 15: Sun Festival Pt. 1**

Hello everyone; yes I understand this is late. Sorry. Ahem. Anywho, I am both sad and happy to declare that this is the second-to-last chapter. Can you believe it!

Oh, I don't own FMA. –insert witty phrase here—

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"Good morning." Came the sneerish voice of the young boy homunculus when Rose opened her eyes.

Rose gasped and scrambled back on all fours until her spine hit the backboard of the bet. Her breath came in shallow heaves.

"Do you know what day it is?" He was sitting on the end of her bed, cocking his head in a grotesque way and smiling in a mischievous fashion.

Rose said not a word, and the youth widened his grin. "It's the last day of the Sun Festival; it's the summer solstice. It's a holy day to celebrate your Sun God Leto, right?"

Though the girl knew that to be a truth, she refused to acknowledge him.

"But today it's more than that." Sloth murmured, causing Rose to start. She was so intent on keeping her eyes on the boy that she failed to notice the presence of Sloth in the doorway, her thin frame leaning against the door's.

"Today is also a celebration of completion. There's been a long project the people of Bloch have been working tirelessly on and now is when they'll see it through. They even have the last step here. The Sera Chto . . ."

Rose's eyes widened at the pair of familiar words.

"Yes, you. Do you know what they mean yet?" Met with no answer, Sloth assumed she didn't. "No? Would you like me to tell you?"

Rose cast her eyes aside, staring down at her bed linens. She wasn't sure if she wanted to. The people here treated her as something of a holy presence, but they also feared her immensely.

"You, my little treasure, are the finishing touch to the ceremony they'll perform. You're their savior. We chose you to be that hero, are you not proud?"

Rose lifted a thin hand and gently brushed the scar on her neck from when she was marked.

"You are the blood sacrifice."

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"Hierra?" Ed said softly when they left the prison-like room. "Where is Rose?" His voice unbiddingly betrayed emotion. The place they entered was anything but comforting. Was she being held prisoner? "Hierra." He spoke again when he received no answer.

"Chuka, Ed. Ditayosé mé haru." Her words were soft, threatening to be overcome by small sobs. She wouldn't look at him.

Hierra led Edward through another tunnel, this one devoid of prisoners, and so was a bit of relief. But what he did see reminded him of a momentarily forgotten obsession. For upon the austere grey walls hung a gallery of artwork, from primitive sketchwork on the wall itself to the colorful canvases that were framed. Depicted in some of the pictures were the people like Hierra, and they were on their knees; their arms sweeping the floor graciously. Some captured the event of murder, the victims running or crawling, their skin clouded and tainted with crimson blood. On one of those murder paintings, he saw the dying not being slaughtered by a mortal weapon, instead by something that wasn't entirely there. Half their bodies were simply blue ash, being blown by the wind. And yet some canvases were just a whirling warp of different shades of blue.

It brought his mind back to the topic of the Philosopher's Stone—something that hadn't crossed his mind for a while. As his mind pondered, a dawning horror became readable upon his features. Why else would the homunculi be here? On an island barely known to any it was extremely unlikely that they had simply followed him and the military. He silently cursed. The homunculi must be forcing the people on this island to create a Philosopher's Stone, or at least, something like it.

A sudden thought halted Ed abruptly. The color receded from his cheeks. The homunculi had scarred Rose—they had marked her and Ed was too concerned with other things that he failed to make a connection. And now surely they had her, but for what reason Edward couldn't guess. He wished not to.

"Ed?" Hierra whispered, turning back to him.

Openly Edward cursed, clenching tight his fists. He looked back to Hierra and with as much patience as he could possibly wring out of himself, he said only a few words. "Rose is Sera Chto?" Then he lifted his palms up as a sign to say 'what?'

"Dara te Sera Chto?" At his frustration she luckily got a glimpse of his meaning. "Sera Chto deso mi youshvolk." She lifted her heavy bangs from her forehead and showed him the brand she was given. Then she hurried over to a painting that held what she tried to convey.

Hierra pointed at a picture smothered simply in blue, pointed to her scar, and then at the painting where the people's skin turned to ash. She indicated herself.

"Hierra. Yu Rose . . ."

Hierra gestured at the blue canvas again, and then pretended to consume something. Then widely she spread out her arms in a burst of energy. With a trembling finger she brushed her neck where Rose was marked.

Then she said, "Hawmonkyulïs."

Though Edward didn't quite understand most of what the young girl's attempted to tell him, her last word struck a point.

"Homunculus?" Ed choked.

Hierra solemnly nodded, then pointed first to her neck, then to her thigh. She repeated the gesture, and this time her finger grazed against her tongue. Again—her collarbone. Her shoulder. Her foot.

All the while Edward stood in numb terror. Hierra knew the homunculi. The connection was complete. If the cursed were here bothering the people—it could only mean the Philosopher's Stone. And somehow they needed the gentle, fragile girl Rose for it.

Hierra noticed his expression and quietly mumbled something before turning and leading him again.

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Rose pressed against the backboard of the great bed, shivering. Her violet eyes were flared open and violently her lips quivered. The kirtle wrapped around her skin she held bunched close to her, as if she could somehow recede into the walls if she could compress herself small enough.

And they just watched her, the two homunculi; they drunk in her fear like a hound dying of thirst. They watched as she tucked her head into her arms, pitifully silent-sobbing.

Behind her arms and the curtain of dark hair, Rose closed her eyes. This was her only chance. If she was going to live, she had to run. Soon. But those two would constantly watch her door, and who knew what preparations she had to take in order to be the 'Sera Chto . . .'? Between the brown strands of her hair she glimpsed the two cursed staring at her with faint amusement. They waited for her to look back up. Obviously they had more information to torture her with. Then Rose started suddenly; the door was wide and enticingly open.

Her thoughts dashed. Sloth was no longer against the doorframe but was on the side of her bed. The boy stood beside his 'mother', grinning mischievously.

Slowly, Rose swung her legs over the bed at the opposite side than they stood. She leaned back and washed away her tears, looking up at the ceiling. Tentatively she touched the mark on her neck, glancing quickly back, then with a lurch leapt, no _flew_ through the door and scrambled down the hallway her legs chose, not her mind. The boy had yelled when she ran, and Sloth attempted to grab her, but Rose's suddenness into action had clearly surprised them both, if not Rose herself.

Her bare feet padded quietly enough, but Rose's breathing gave way her presence and left trail for those two to follow. Rose's body, though lithe and thin it was, hadn't full out ran for a while; truth, she had never run this fast in her life. It seemed underneath her waist some mechanical device put forward her legs and kept them in motion, for Rose could no longer feel them.

Down this hallway not a soul did she encounter, not even the two homunculi. Her heart pulsed wildly in her head—blood coursed in her ears. Turning a corner she came to her hands and pushed off again with her legs, losing no time. Her face met the solidness of a door. In a sudden frustration her fingers closed round it and she flung it open, forcing herself into action once more. Inside she prayed—prayed for salvation. Her eyes stung with unbidden tears.

But deep in her chest, she did feel the burning exaltation of hope. She had made it this far and no sound of others could be heard. She had run. The though was all the fuel she needed.

For minutes did she run, for what seemed like hours; her chest on fire but her mind oblivious to the pain. She was no longer conscious of herself. Without controlling her limbs, they reacted within a split second—the doors would open before she completely stopped.

Only when she crossed an intersection of the hallways did her mind register. Abruptly halting Rose fell to her knees, for once her rubbery legs stopped, they were useless. She could no longer push them into movement. She was stuck.

Rose turned to what had forced her to stop moving. She looked and attempted to crawl, feeling clouded in thought and pushed by only the urge to move. _Move._ She scrambled on her hands and knees to the two forms, two she knew.

Her throat suddenly opened, if swollen, and she heard a soft, strained voice cry out, "Ed!" She started when she realized it was her own lips, her own _voice_ that spoke his name.

The boy scrambled over to her, strung one of her thin arms across his shoulders and raised Rose up to her wobbly feet. She couldn't see his face—he hid it from her. Hierra clutched the other arm, tugging.

Forcing words raspily out of her throat, Rose whispered, "Run. Out. They are after—Sloth—the boy . . ."

Ed and Hierra needed no more words. Going back the way they came, they dragged Rose with them in their fast pace. She didn't mind the fact her knees were losing skin trailing the burning ground. Ed had come for her, she was going to live.

Without warning Rose wrenched her arm from Hierra's grasp and wrapped both around Edward. He stopped, nearly losing his balance. She cried out.

Around both of her ankles, a thick substance not quite liquid, for it was as strong as any rope, was curled. Hierra screamed.

Edward quickly slapped his palms together, turned in Rose's grasp, lashed out his now sharp pointed head and sliced through the water-chains around Rose's ankles. For a moment they dissipated, but then in a fury they seeped through the space between Ed and Rose. The water slid underneath the creases of Rose's hands holding Ed and, slipping, she could no longer grasp him. She cried out, and saw Ed lunge for her.

But through the air she was carried, and he in his restricted height could not reach her. Swearing vehemently he ran towards her, when a boy near to his size stepped out and laughed in a voice sickeningly sweet.

Something pinned him against the wall suddenly. Looking up, he met the gaze of Lust.

"We need that girl, Fullmetal. It's not you we're after today." Her eyes flickered to the girl Hierra. "I see you've tried to set one of the ingredients free as well. I can't let that happen."

Another form walked over to Hierra and brought a heavy fist down on the base of her neck. Hierra collapsed instantly.

"Edward!" Rose's agonizing scream pealed. She struggled and shrieked until the water embrace that held her moved to her head and covered her mouth, strangling her.

Edward cursed again, screaming her name, but his eyes abruptly closed when a weight pressed against the back of his head and he was released to fall to the floor.

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Wow, not bad for length, eh?

Haha.

Actually this chapter was kind of fun to write. I had my hot cocoa mixed with vanilla cocoa and nutmeg. Ahhhh, bliss.

My reviewers, you can have that wonderful drink as well, if it's not too hot where you are, OR if you're not into mah little mix, then I baked you all some chocolate fondant. MMMmmmm. Lovely.


	16. I'm So Sincerely Sorry

**The Island of Narid **

**Chapter . . . **

As if the long wait wasn't enough, now I'm wasting time and space with this crappy thing. Okay, well. Where to start . . .

How about an apology? I am sincerely sorry to everyone who is reading this story. No, I am not stopping it one chapter from the end. No indeed! However, I haven't updated since forever, and I even told someone I would have the last chapter up soon! I'm so . . . rotten.

-sigh- Well I'd like to say sorry again and say that the fact you don't have a chapter today is because things with me . . . have not been the best. Troubling times. But that's no excuse. So again, I'm sorry. ((wow this sounds like a pity party))

DONE WITH RANTING smacks hand down on desk

ALL RIGHTEY THEN! Another reason: I'm unsure. Now, you guys need to help me with this, kay? Now, I could just end this story and be all "whoo whoo I finished yay" or I could end it and be all "whoo whoo smell a sequel?" Now here's where I need people's replies: please give me some advice here now peeps—do you want to see a sequel from me or do you just want me to conclude this?

Please review or PM me with your reply—it would be most helpful. -nod nod-

Once again, I'm sorry but I would REALLY like to thank some people for sticking with me on this. ((as I'm afraid many dropped out and don't read anymore))

**Evilchik **for stayin' with me since the beginning , **Prince Kame** fer makin' sure I'm updating and keepin' my spirit up, **Sotroublesome** for just reviewing later in the story. and **FullxMetalxSakura **and **Fullmetal Cows **and **Automailjunkie44** for reviewing later too! I owe a lot to you guys. THANKS! I baked you all pies so just take one of dem and I shall be happy. And if you don' like pies, please say so and a cookie will be a-comin' yer way.

Wow now what does this sound like? An award ceremony? -dies-

ANYWAY MOWR!

But please, tell me what you want to do and I shall be eternally grateful. -bows over and over-


	17. Sun Festival Pt 2

**The Island of Narid**

**Chapter 16: Sun Festival Part 2**

Well, here it is, the last chapter. Okay, votes:

No, don't make a sequel: 0 votes.

Yes, make a sequel: 3 votes.

so . . . a SEQUEL it is!

Okay here peeps, I know that sometimes I really, really don't like endings because the endings . . . just don't _DO _ it for me, ya know? So I really hope this ending is favorable for you guys.

. . . and **SINCE** it's the **ENDING**, I would **REALLY** appreciate reviews on the story. As a whole, or simply the ending.

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"Chana bella karshti tévo.

Terras bwifo rallie kor.

Sera wo, Sera Chto . . .

"Sera Chto."

Rose stood on the raised dais once more, the platform that overlooked all the people of the island. The last time she was here, she drank blood . . .

The millions of people stood stone still beneath her, moving only their lips to the cold chant. Standing far to the side of her, bound in both the arms and the legs, was Edward. There was a mask covering his eyes--another gagged his mouth. Two islanders held his shoulders as he quivered, and a homunculus stood near, face twisted in a smirk.

"Chana bella"

"Dear lady," Sloth translated slowly, tauntingly.

Rose trembled violently, and tears washed over her cheeks unheeded. She was beyond terrified and hardly heard the chant as Sloth murmured.

"Karshti tévo."

"Foreign blood."

A whimper escaped Rose and a dizziness warbled through her limbs. She felt faint. Ebony waves of hair washed over her shoulder as a homunculus gently strung her arms underneath Rose's, keeping her on her feet or preventing her from fleeing--the purpose was not clear.

"Terras bwifo rallie kor."

"Native heart we adore."

The echoing of the voices in unison and the smooth, languid one of Sloth proved to be too frightening. Rose began to sob, catching her breath in her throat. Her head bowed, and the woman behind was the only think keeping her from collapsing. Drowned only when the crowd spoke, she cried loudly. Somewhere near she heard Ed's intake of breath.

"Sera wo, Sera Chto . . . "

"My Savior, Loved Savior . . . "

"Stop it!" Her voice shrieked from underneath the dark, thick curtain of her hair; her head hung limp. Distantly, as if behind a wall of glass, she heard a boy protest angrily.

"Sera Chto . . . "

Before Edward, the homunculi, and the people of Bloch, but unseen by Rose, whose eyes were now blind even when opened, two men walked onto the dais of the chamber hauling upon their backs two large sealed vats. Upon their foreheads burnt a charcoal-black mark--a churning vine of ebony.

In front of them, when they set the two couldrons on the dais a tall but delicate woman strode forward. At her approach all scaffle of slight footfall vanished; each breath was held. The woman, gowned in golden tresses, raised her thin arms and spoke beneath her light veil.

"Djura ahés' uilio fy z'é."

"All people, listen to me," came Sloth's whispered translation.

"S'i Kuala kanaes si vorsta . . ." _'The Ones have told us the beginning.'_ ". . . Nar naré kas nlaftu u sfrirü." _'And we will get a conclusion.'_

The speech continued on, slow and clear from the lady's gentle mouth. Rose, however terrified, forced her ears to remain open and listen to what would come.

"Our yearnings, our desires, are only a breath away from our lips. This girl," her dark arm gracefully gestured to Rose's bowed form, "this girl is our key to unlocking that invisible barrier between us and our wants. Our Sera Chto.

"Fifty-four years it has taken us to breed and raise our own materials. Fifty-four years has our women labored to create a Sera Chto, to no avail. We needed one that left our island hundreds of years 'fore. We needed _her._ And she has come. Given to us by our great overlookers. They have brought to us our key: our brilliant Goddess. Our wonderful, cherished Sera Chto. Bow to her--show her your worship."

Sloth dragged Rose forward, in step with the golden-clad lady and released the hold upon her arms. Rose crumpled to a sorry heap upon the smooth stone. Her own rich lavender garment sprayed about her like a fountain; her dark hear, neatly combed, fell over her shoulders and hid her teared face.

"Rose . . . "

Rose's head suddenly raised. Her eyes opened, and she willed for them to see. Through her curtain of dark silk Rose looked at the boy who breathed her name. The cloth gagging and blinding him had been removed. He found her eyes and did not avert. She, however, broke their gaze. One frail, dusky hand rose to her hollowed cheeks and smeared the wetness away. Shakily and as unstable as a newborn filly, she rose to her feet and looked among the multidudinous bodies paying homage.

"No." She said, her voice still scratchy from lack of use. She raised her timbre, "No! I am not holy! I'm no savior! I was once under a similar spell--I was beguiled in a same way until someone wrought out the truth. I am no Sera Chto. I am fake!"

The woman in gold turned to Sloth with bemused eyes. The homunculus smirked before translating. Mirth lit the Bloch woman's features as she murmured a reply.

It came to Rose as, "You have been tested before Sera Chto, when you weren't aware. Your body is what we need. But speak again; we wish to drink your wondrous voice."

Rose stepped back, horrified. The Golden approached her, nearly so close she could feel her breath, and repeated the word.

"Speak. Speak, maiden."

Sudden struggling caught the eyes and ears of the Golden. She turned to a boy fighting greatly with two men holding his arms. The Golden waltzed around Rose and stopped before Edward.

"Who are you, fair-skin?" Came her words spoken through Envy. Not waiting for a reply, Envy spoke for him.

"He is Edward Elric, our talented little alchemist." The one whose name was said thrashed. "He and your Sera Chto are . . . close."

The Golden bent to meet Edward's eyes. "So you will help us? How sweet. Even an outlander like you will aid in our cause by giving us your loved lady. We thank you."

Edward snapped at her when he heard the translation.

She seemed undaunted. "Don't fret, little lost boy. She'll be able to give you _anything_ your heart wants. I'll let you use her first."

Ed's struggling rekindled and he spat foul words at her face. His own was red with contempt.

Envy was slow to translate. "He is honored."

Sloth took firm hold upon Rose's frail wrist and dragged her toward the two giant couldrons. With hard leather, her hands were bound to the handles of each vat. Up close, she could see that on both of the dark sealed bodies of the couldrons was chalked an elaborate web of circles and symbols. Rose was learned enough to know that what her eyes read were transmutation circles--meant distinctly for her. She yanked her wrists, however, that only served to tighten the cords around them.

Edward, still held by the two islanders, took place before her. He had only to glimpse the circles once below him to know what the homunculi and the people of Bloch meant for him to do. His brows knotted and he felt all color drain from his face. His golden eyes looked up and locked with the violet ones of the girl standing his opposite. Her tears were beginning anew.

Two voices spoke--one being the Golden to her people, the other being Sloth to Edward and Rose. "People all, our dreams are to become real! You have given up many loves for this happiness eternal--for years and years. Sing for now that all your lives and those of children to be born will bathe in fine contentment!"

A bright cheer echoed throughout the room. A song formed from their raised voices, a great murmured melody.

Lust walked up to rose, extended her hand to the girl's palms and sliced them through. Rose's blood spread across the seals of the vats. She then cut through the bonds holding Edward's wrists bound. The two men from behind forced his palms to meet in a sharp snap. Ed felt the alchemy within him seethe and shimmer. His eyes were still held by Rose's gaze. He, himself, felt his eyes glass over. Warmth flooded over his cold and pallid cheeks. His wrists were forced to the dark couldrons before any word could escape his lips, and he heard the sharp sound of his alchemy catching on the circle. He then was grabbed and thrown to the side.

The leather cords holding Rose snapped. She lunged away, however the alchemy searched her through her blood and snatched her, pulling her body back. The two couldrons' seals exploded up in a fury--the contents inside wreathed and hissed. The liquid climbed up the sides of its containment and began covering the trembling arm of Rose. She screamed as she felt her blood being dissolved to make way for this invasion. The meat in her hand fell away.

A voice echoed her shriek. A small girl, with coarse and matted dark hair, ran forward from an unknown location and shoved Rose to the hard, polished floor on impact. Hierra rubbed her arm sharply against the edge of the vat. Her skin caught and ripped.

A fury of children's cries were heard throughout the echoing chamber. More young ones, alike in the ages of Hierra, ran from where they sat or stood and climbed up the stairs to the dais. The joined her in freshening their blood. All were weeping, and all had the mark of the vine between their brows. Some swayed, as if in a sickness.

"Rawse! Dana Ed t'u gviares! Chuvuyachni!" Hierra's voice carried on in a series of screams as the cerulean liquid, alike to the stones found in Winry's cave, ate her flesh and blood. Hierra thrust her arms into both of the vats, willing it to devour her. The other children followed suit, sobbing in pain. Within seconds the liquid had covered their faces, choking them as they screamed. The thick paste failed to drip from them, though, but drenched them as if wet. Hierra's body fell limply forward, drowning in dark cyan water.

Rose, with one arm clutching her bruised hip, crawled over towards the children and their murderor. Ed was quick to reach her, however, and took hold of her shoulders even as she struggled against him. Her hand reached for the children.

"They can't . . . " The pair of words were spoken both by Rose and by Lust. The homunuculus's eyes were oddly distant, and wrinkles formed beneath the pearly dark hue of her lashes. Her lips quivered.

"Envy!"

The man spoken of darted forward, joined by the boy Wrath and his 'mother'. They fell to the sides of the vats and attempted to wrench the children from where they hung limply over the sides. Their figures draped gently, but could not be dislodged. In rebuke, the cyan liquid lashed out at the homunculi intruders and knocked them away. Nearly in an arm-like fashion, the blue substance formed a tendril and sped toward Rose, still caught in the lure of her chosen blood.

Edward brought up his mechanical arm just before the seeking arm found the girl beneath him. The liquid hugged around the automail metal and inspected it. It whipped away, and abruptly met contact with one of the men that had held Edward's arms. It took solid hold upon his skin and drained him of his lifeblood. All souls bearing the mark of the vine screamed, attempting to run from the room. The whole chamber fell into a state of panic. The blue killer sought only those who bore its mark and devoured them, drinking in what they unwillingly offered.

Ed hauled Rose to her feet and dragged her to the side of the room, for she was clutching her face and shrieking, no less sane than any else whose minds emptied. Her arm still glowed cyan where the liquid wound and it throbbed painfully.

"No! You can't go!" The sharp voice of Envy roared. He ran towards them, hindered slightly by the panicking crowd.

"Rose, stand up! Get up and move!" Ed hissed in her ears, prying her fingers from her face. She clutched at his hands and tried to haul herself up to her legs with hardly a thought.

The floor beneath them quaked suddenly, as it had in the cave when she and Winry trespassed. Cracks of blue shown through the polished stone and broke its solid into a mass of crumbling dust. The children and the vats fell in, as well as the Golden and the homunculi. Envy made a mad grab for Rose, clutching a part of her hair before falling. Edward yanked the girl to him and pressed her against his chest, rolling from the crumbling center floor. In a thin, but tall collumned hallway, he forced Rose upon her feet and dragged her behind him as he sprinted. With a half-senile mind she bucked her legs into motion, falling in step behind Edward.

Another loud rumble echoed in their ears, however it had not the same magnitude as the first. Nothing had fallen, though the walls had shaken. It had stopped the moment it began. Edward recognized when the second short quake began anew, what provoked them. He whispered a few words, unheard over all the noise. When they came to the intersection between the hallways, the door to the side of them popped undone in a lick of flames. It lay burning upon the floor.

The man whose figure stood in the doorway looked at them with a hardened, perspired face. A woman, near his age, came out from behind him, a loaded gun held tight in her hands. Her pasty complexion almost paled more when she saw Edward and Rose.

For a slight moment they could only stare at one another, not believing that they had stumbled upon one another. At the building's next quake, they sprang into action. Mustang was shouting orders to Ed and Riza, however only barely could they be heard.

The group ran back hallways lined with a trail of thin flame that didn't surpass the thickness of a fingernail. They reached a passage that clicked within Edward's memory: the hoards of people crammed in cages and crates on the sides of the walls. None stood behind bars there now. Surely they had all been executed for the sake of the ceremony. He shuddered, but with all that was happening no one cared to ask.

At last they came to the elevator where Hierra led Edward inside the cursed place. Roy pushed everyone hastily inside before entering himself, and pulling on the lever. Painfully sluggish, the floor rose to meet the troubled air of outside. Here, the rest of the island fared no better; it seemed as the very cords in the base of the ground were unraveling.

"To the left!" Mustang roared. The others followed without question.

Rose could not find footing between the brush. Her bare feet constantly was torn by some thornbush, and she tripped over every rise in the land. It was if she couldn't see. She and Edward were falling behind the others.

"Mustang! She can't keep up!"

Roy whipped his head around, stopping only for a brief breath before coming back to him and Rose. One of his solid arms came under Rose's shoulders, and the other around her knees. He hoisted her up off the earth and carried her as he ran. If his pace hindered any, it could not be seen.

"There's a coast very near to here." Riza panted, beside Edward.

"It makes no difference--the whole island's about to collapse in on itself. Whether we're by the sea won't change anything."

"It will if we have a boat."

"You mean--?" Edward's voice caught within his throat. Had someone finally come?! "Who . . . ?"

"Havok, Breda, and Fallman came by boat half-led by worry for our jobs and for ourselves." She heaved a relieved sigh. "We refused to leave without you and Mustang without hesitation left us to find you. I had to follow."

The trees cleared in a matter of minutes. There, a rocky coastline met them. The boat was a ways away from shoreline, wisely not daring to meet the rocks. Two small rowboats were made ready for their return; Winry sat in one, crying out to them, and Maria in the other. They waved them over hurredly.

The two escapees and the pair of rescuers made their way toward the boats and sloshed through the knee-high water that lay between them. Roy placed Rose inside Winry's boat as gently as he could manage in small time. He was about to enter himself when Edward declared:

"She goes with _me._"

Mustang shook his head, however complied. He and Riza entered Maria's tiny ship and took to the oars without pause.

"You found Rose." Winry breathed, her eyes wide and watery. Tears flooded over he flushed skin. "And you both made it out."

Upon reaching the large rescue vessel, the small boats were raised up to the deck. Mustang, Riza, and Maria hurried out and made to help the others from their boat. Winry exited first, followed by Edward whose hand clasped Rose's. However, she couldn't climb out of the boat. When he prodded her, she shook her head in slight embarassment.

"I can't see."

"This has happened before." Mustang informed as he lifted Rose onto deck. "It's happened in the military often. More often than you know. She just needs to calm down."

Edward led Rose to one of the chairs and sat her down, himself taking a seat next to him. Two arms suddenly wrapped around his shoulders, hugging him tight. Winry released him soon, to envelop Rose in a trembling embrace.

"I was so worried." She mumbled, still bubbling through tears.

"Brother!" Al cried, also taking the boy into his arms.

Winry gasped. "What happened to your arm?" Her gaze met Rose's empty arm, now uncovered by her lavender sleeve. It still warbled in a marble of blues and whites. It seemed hollow as a fragile shell, and Rose could not move it. Winry gently brushed her fingers by it but Rose cried out and jerked it away.

"Just wait! Leave us be for a moment!" Ed cried, tearing away from his brother. Obediantly, the two left them.

"Will we make it before a wave comes up?" Mustang asked dubiously.

Havok, who had come to stand beside him, shook his head. "It'll come before we reach another beach, that's sure. But this vessel's pretty sturdy. It should hold."

Mustang sighed, his shoulders falling in a slump. He leaned on the railing, looking out as the island behind him quaked and shuddered.

Beyond his sight, great multitudes of people slowly sank drowning into the sea. Some of them unrecognizable from the caving in of the room, others preserved by the blue liquid crystalized by the cold ocean's wake. Hierra's body, among others, slowly fell deeper into the sea, unliving.

"We made it. It's okay now, Rose. We're alive." Edward murmured in a strangely soft voice. He held Rose's unharmed hand in both his own. None of the awkwardness had entered his actions or expression now that had been when he attempted to comfort her before.

"We're alive. And we'll keep going, right? We'll keep moving forward, okay?"

"Hierra--everyone . . . " Her voice breathed.

"Don't worry. Just calm down. It's okay--we'll keep going. They chose to save you, they want you to live." He enveloped her in a long, gentle embrace, oblivious or not caring to notice to the many eyes turned toward him. Beneath him, he felt her breath steady. They parted slowly and their eyes met.

Hers looked at his, focused and no longer slurred.

"See? It's okay."

She nodded, and for the first time in an unbearable long while, her soft pink lips stretched into a smile.


End file.
